FIFA Club World Cup
Club World Cup
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It is day five at the 2025 Club World Cup and the champions of this competition's old format are in action as Manchester City face Wydad.
City qualified for this tournament as Champions League 2023 winners and won the Club World Cup that same year, which earns them the right to defend their title as ‘the best club in the world’.
That has given them the honour of wearing the golden patch of the Club World Cup champions on the front of their jersey since then, too.
Meanwhile, Moroccan club Wydad earned their spot via winning Africa's version of the Champions League in 2023.
You can sign up to DAZN to watch every FIFA Club World Cup game for free.
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Guardiola hands debuts to Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki as City kick off their Club World Cup campaign against Moroccan side Wydad.
Rico Lewis in at right back and Nico O’Reilly at left-back. Nathan Ake back in at centre back with 19-year-old Vitor Reis.
It’s a very attacking front six with Reijnders, Foden and Cherki plus Savinho, Marmoush and Doku.
Will be interesting to see how that balance works and how fluid it is as there are so many dribblers in there.
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Let's take a look.
Man City substitutes: Ortega (GK); Dias, Stones, Gvardiol, Akanji, Ait-Nouri, Khusanov, Rodri, Nico, Gundogan, Silva, Nunes, Echeverri, Bobb, Haaland.
Here's how Pep Guardiola's side line up today.
Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Ederson; Lewis, Reis, Ake, O'Reilly; Reijnders; Savinho, Foden, Cherki, Doku; Marmoush.
We expect both line-ups to be announced very shortly.
We'll bring those to you as soon as we get them…
Oh yes, a revamped tournament definitely needs a redesigned trophy — especially one carrying the name of FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Twice.
The all new Club World Cup was designed by FIFA and jewellery brand Tiffany & Co, and unveiled by Infantino alongside U.S. president Donald Trump.
As well as displaying Infantino’s name (twice) the trophy also features the name of all 211 FIFA member nations.
There is a central disc and three outer rings, meaning it can be displayed as a flat shield or opened with a key to reveal “a multifaceted and orbital structure” — which I think we can all agree, sounds intriguing.
The 32 teams involved in this Club World Cup represent all six FIFA confederations. This is how they are split:
Brazil is the country with the most clubs participating, with its quartet of Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense and Palmeiras.
As host nation, the U.S. is the only other country providing more clubs than FIFA’s limit of two, with Inter Miami, Los Angeles FC, and Seattle Sounders all involved.
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Here you can see all 11 host cities. It’s quite the spread.
The Club World Cup began with the opening match at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on June 14, with the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey — where the 2026 World Cup final will also be held.
However, all 63 matches in this tournament will take place in the United States, whereas hosting duties for next year’s World Cup will be shared with Canada and Mexico. The Club World Cup’s 12 host stadiums across 11 cities are:
Let’s take you through how this Club World Cup itinerary breaks down, when clubs could be going home, and how late the finalists will finish…
All of these dates are relative to Eastern time in the United States.
This is uncharted territory for a competition that has 20 years of history, but nothing like what awaits this month. Previously an annual tournament featuring seven clubs, we now have a 32-team competition played once every four years.
The 2025 edition has six continents and 20 countries represented across the chosen clubs, who will be hosted by 11 venues across the United States. As yet, there is no confirmed host nation for the following Club World Cup in 2029.
So how did the 32 teams earn their place here and what do we have in store as the tournament progresses? We’ll address all that and more, next…
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These tournaments are all about the shared experience — and we would love to hear from you throughout this Club World Cup.
Be it a comment, observation, prediction, a question you always wanted answered, or something completely different, we welcome it all.
Email us at live@theathletic.com and have your say. We’re already looking forward to reading what you’ve got for us!
Little more than six months after Premier League champions Manchester City finally grabbed the Champions League success they craved in 2023, they added the world title to their list of honours.
Pep Guardiola’s team were triumphant in the final running of the Club World Cup in its original format, hosted two years ago by Saudi Arabia and featuring seven teams — the champions from each FIFA confederation, alongside Saudi Pro League champions Al Ittihad as hosts.
As UEFA’s representative, Man City had a bye to the semi-finals, where they beat Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0. Julian Alvarez then scored after just 40 seconds of the final, as the Premier League side beat Brazil’s Fluminense 4-0 in Jeddah.
Now they get to defend their crown.
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The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is a little different with 32 teams competing — when the previous 20 editions never brought together more than eight clubs each.
Still, the legacy of those early years will continue and a host of famous names will be looking to add to their previous victories. Here are the most successful clubs in this competition’s history:
We have four games on the slate for Day 5 at this tournament. This one in Philadelphia gets us going — here is today's full schedule…
Then tomorrow we have four games on the agenda, with Inter Miami, Porto, Palmeiras and PSG all involved.
If you’re a soccer fan — and you love a plethora of other sports too — there is no better place to follow all your favourite teams, leagues and players than with The Athletic.
From the UK, we’ve got you covered throughout this expanded Club World Cup and on into the build-up to next summer’s World Cup.
Then in the U.S. the NBA Finals and MLB season are all compelling viewing right now. Wimbledon tennis, F1’s iconic European races and Open golf are all on the way soon too.
We have the lot covered and much more besides, so make sure you’re fully informed with access to our full experience. And you’re in luck — you can subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer right here.
We head to Philadelphia for tonight's match at the home of the Super Bowl Champions.
But it's a different kind of football taking place on the turf tonight. Lincoln Financial Field is 21 years old and still as impressive as the day it opened on August 3, 2003.
It has been the home to some big occasions in the past as well as the NFL, with Ed Sheeran boasting the record attendance at the stadium as more than 77,000 fans enjoyed one of his concerts in person in 2023.
In soccer, it also hosted matches in the 2003 Women's World Cup and it's set for the big one next year too, in the men's World Cup in the group stage and round of 16.
All matches at this Club World Cup are available to watch on DAZN, so you can watch this evening’s game in the United States and anywhere else that has access to DAZN.
Broadcasting rights to a selection of matches has also been licensed out to other broadcasters.
In the UK, that is free-to-air broadcaster Channel 5 — and this game is one of those they have selected for coverage.
In Australia, the Club World Cup is also available to stream on Kayo Sports.
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It’s an early lunchtime kick-off for this one in Philadelphia, Pa.
Manchester City vs Wydad is scheduled to get going at 12pm noon, ET.
That translates to 9am (PT), 5pm BST in the UK and 1.30am in the early hours of the morning for any diehard soccer fans in Australia.
Good day and welcome to the latest match of our FIFA Club World Cup coverage — specifically, a Group G opener between Manchester City and Wydad.
Manchester City are the second of the two Premier League representatives to get going at this tournament, and with the small task of defending their title as world champions, won in 2023.
They are up against Moroccan representatives in the competition, Wydad AC. The Casablanca-based club qualified for the tournament courtesy of their 2023 win in the CAF (African) Champions League.
And they have a steep task ahead of them as they look to cause an early upset against Pep Guardiola's Premier League giants.
We have full build-up and match updates on the way for you, as well as all the insight you could wish for from our team of correspondents on the ground.
Don’t go anywhere — we’ve got you covered from here.