FIFA Club World Cup
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It is 2025 Club World Cup final day with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain meeting at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The two teams have already won international trophies this season; PSG are the European champions while their opponents won the UEFA Conference League.
Chelsea have won the Club World Cup twice before in its old format, while the Parisians had never played in the competition before this summer.
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Chelsea have conceded five goals in their six games at this Club World Cup, but none of them have come in the first half.
They have conceded just 0.85 expected goals (xG) in the first half of matches which is lower than any other team at the tournament, despite them playing more matches than 28 of the 31 clubs.
PSG, meanwhile, have scored 10 first-half goals at this tournament — only Bayern Munich, who faced semi-professional side Auckland City, have managed more (11).
Something's got to give!
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A genuine cornucopia of jerseys on display today here at MetLife Stadium.
On my walk around the concourse, in addition to Chelsea and PSG I spotted Manchester City, Boca Juniors, Ipswich Town, Cruz Azul, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Mamelodi Sundowns.
National team kits I saw included Ecuador, Colombia, France, United States, Argentina and Georgia. A few other unique ones included Ferrari, New York Yankees and an NFL-style Chelsea jersey.
Surprisingly, these clubs have not faced each other in a competitive match since PSG dispatched Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate in a two-legged Champions League last-16 tie in the 2015-16 season.
Nearly 10 years on, this is two of the youngest sides in European football who are at different stages in their journey. PSG look complete with their young, versatile group of players that could dominate the game for consecutive seasons. For Chelsea, they will be looked at the French champions as an example of what can be achieved with a youthful group and some elite coaching.
Tom Brady is pitchside, watching the players warm up. It might be Birmingham City one day, Tom…
Luis Enrique must feel like he is managing a Premier League team with how often his side have faced English opponents this year.
This is their eighth match against a team from across the Channel in 2025 alone — making them the third non-UK team to play eight matches against English opposition after Reggiana (1978) and Bayer Leverkusen (2002).
PSG's record in those matches is five wins and two defeats, losing against Arsenal and Liverpool in the Champions League.
“We live in a world of passing, but the common thing with PSG is they are all dribblers,” long-time Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said at a FIFA technical study group event this week. “They can go one v one, and then make the pass. (Ousmane) Dembele, (Bradley) Barcola, (Desire) Doue, they all go at you first. They are not scared of you. That’s very interesting to see from a dominant team.”
That is going to be one of Chelsea’s key dilemmas this afternoon, how do they stop PSG’s dribblers? For context, no player has attempted more take-ons than Desire Doue in this summer’s competition.
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We saw a 10-minute delay to kick-off in PSG's semi-final against Real Madrid after the two team buses got caught in traffic.
I suspect they left their hotels a little earlier today, and they were at MetLife Stadium in plenty of time today.
Cole Palmer taking on some hydration there the temperature lingering somewhere in the mid 80s with humidity around 66 per cent.
There will be a cooling break in both halves.
Early predictions for this afternoon? The Athletic’s match prediction model has PSG as the overwhelming favourites with a 64 per cent chance of victory within regulation time.
Hardly surprising given their dominance this season, but it is rare to have such an expectation of victory from Luis Enrique’s side. Can Chelsea pull off a tactical masterclass?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
This PSG team has been the best in the world over the last six months, so Luis Enrique would have never felt the necessity to shuffle his pack after their hammering of Real Madrid on Wednesday.
The only line-up decisions came ahead of that semi-final after Willian Pacho's ill-tempered red card against Bayern Munich and Ousmane Dembele's return to full fitness.
Lucas Beraldo is their first substitute centre-back and if Dembele is fit, he has to play so no changes for the Parisians.
Reece James, despite Chelsea's underdog tag, is expecting a competitive final and is clearly very hopeful that they can cause an upset at MetLife Stadium.
💬 “We are expecting a tough game, don’t get me wrong, they’re an amazing team, but we are an amazing team and I think we will surprise a lot of people.
“We have come a long way in our journey from where we started, and we are all looking forward to the game.
“Stats, data, favourites, not favourites, it doesn’t mean much to me or the team. It is something that makes other people happy. This is two great young sides playing against each other on the biggest stage and we are going to go toe-to-toe.”
We weren't sure whether it would be Reece James or Malo Gusto in the Chelsea line-up, but Enzo Maresca has gone with both of them.
That will likely mean Gusto at right-back and James alongside Moises Caicedo in the midfield pivot.
The Chelsea manager perhaps wants more bodies in the middle of the park, but it feels something of a risk to throw his captain into that position against the best midfield trio in world football.
Christopher Nkunku started the semi-final but has dropped out of the team, which will likely shuffle Cole Palmer onto the right wing.
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As Mark said a little earlier, no need for any changes from Luis Enrique — here is how they start this Club World Cup final:
A few big decisions to make for Maresca today — here is how Chelsea will start today's final:
Whomever Maresca selects at right-back today will be revealing of their build-up and attacking approach.
If it is Malo Gusto, expect to see the French international push high into the right half space while Marc Cucurella tucks in to form a back three in possession. If Reece James starts, it will be him tucking in while Cucurella marauds forward in typical fashion on the left flank.
Enzo Maresca, speaking in his pre-match press conference, was full of respect for PSG but first. he discussed his side's achievement of making it this far.
💬 “First of all, we are delighted to be here. We feel privileged because we arrived here a month ago, there were 32 teams, we were 16, and from 16 we were eight, from eight, four, and from four, two. So we are very happy and delighted to be here.
“What worries me about Paris Saint-Germain is what worries me about any team. I try to help the team prepare for the game in the best way possible, to give the players all the information possible, so that they can perform on the pitch, and this is my biggest concern. I try to prepare the game, I try to respect any team.”
One of the key tactical questions for Enzo Maresca is who he will name up front for Chelsea this afternoon.
Joao Pedro did excellently on his first start against Fluminense, scoring twice, but I would argue that Liam Delap’s tendency to run in behind might stretch PSG more and create space elsewhere for the likes of Cole Palmer to exploit.
A good dilemma to have, in truth.
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While PSG are big favourites to win today, Luis Enrique was under no illusions that their opponents will provide a stern test.
💬 “It's important to be aware of the difficulty of the match. Chelsea have a young coach who likes to play with the ball. He's got a team with a lot of individuality, but when they have to defend, they do it like we do, and they're very strong physically too.
“It is going to be a tight game. It will be difficult because we are similar in most areas of the game. We're ready, they're ready. We've each won a European trophy this season, so it'll be an interesting game.”
You can be pretty confident of Luis Enrique’s starting XI this afternoon — it names itself.
Yet that is the thing with this PSG side, you know who you’re coming up against, you broadly know what they are going to do, but stopping their rotations and positional fluidity is another story altogether. In this heat, Chelsea need to contain the space and keep things tight for as long as possible.
Speaking of hosts and heat, FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested in recent media availability they’ll be able to “hide” from extreme weather in 2026 by leaning on indoor or covered venues.
This might be a solution for matches in certain parts of the country, but MetLife Stadium is very much uncovered. The only real solution here to avoid scorching temps when they’re at their worst is to make sure kick-offs are not scheduled for midday or early afternoon.