City confirmed for expanded 2025 Club World Cup

Words: ACFC Media

Monday 18 December 2023

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Aucklands City FC are guaranteed a place at the revamped 32-team Club World Cup finals ion 2025 after FIFA confirmed details for the new competition.

Sunday's FIFA Council meeting in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah has agreed on the qualifying criteria and format confirming the new tournament will be hosted by the United States from June15 to July 13, 2025.

Played in every four years, the expanded competition will feature clubs from each of the six confederations with Oceania awarded one spot, which will be Auckland City FC in 2025.

The Navy Blues, winners of the 2022 and 2023 OFC Champions League, have sealed their place under the tournament’s qualification criteria as the highest ranked team in Oceania over four seasons leading up to the Club World Cup finals.

“While the 2024 edition of the OFC Champions League remains to be played, of the teams that may potentially participate, there is no mathematical possibility for any to overtake Auckland City FC based on the points gained by that team over the qualification period to date," stated the FIFA communiqué

The tournament will be a classic World Cup format of 32 teams split into eight groups of four with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stage.

Apart from Auckland City it will include 12 clubs from Europe, six from South America, four each from Africa, Asia and North and Central America and the Caribbean, and one further team from the host nation.

The last three European Champions League winners, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City have already been confirmed as participants along with German giants Bayern Munich, French outfit Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan from Italy and and Portuguese sides FC Porto and Benfica.

The remaining four European spots are still up for grabs.

From South America, Brazilian sides Palmeiras, Flamengo and Fluminense have qualified as Copa Libertadores champions, while Asian sides Al Hilal and Urawa Red Diamonds are also through.

Al Ahly and Wydad have similarly qualified from Africa while Monterrey, Seattle Sounders and Club Leon are through from North America.

The current version of the FIFA Club World Cup -- an annual competition with seven teams -- will be discontinued after the tournament currently held Saudi Arabia.

In place of the previous annual tournament a new competition is being established that will be known as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.

The new competition will pit all of the world's continental title winners from the previous calendar year against one another in a slightly reworked single-elimination tournament.

The winner of the 2024 OFC Champions League will face AFC Champions League winners or the CAF (African) Champions League winners in a one-off match in Round 1.

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