Thirty-two teams from around the world will convene to participate in the revamped 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
Founded in 2000, the Club World Cup has undergone a total facelift for its 21st edition, as FIFA decided to reformat the club competition to more closely mirror its eponymous sister tournament on the international level.
For the 2025 edition and the foreseeable future, the Club World Cup will now feature 32 teams instead of just seven, and will be held every four years instead of annually. Thus, continental champions from across the globe are set to begin a month-long competition in the United States crammed into the summer.
FIFA instituted a rule in place that prevented too many clubs from one nation being nominated for participation, so the resulting field features teams from all over the globe.
The Sporting News details where every single club is from, and
MORE: Full squad lists for all 32 teams in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
All 32 clubs at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup
| Club | Location | League | Confederation | Qualified via |
| Al-Hilal | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | Saudi Pro League | AFC | 2021 AFC Champions League winners |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Saitama, Japan | J League | AFC | 2022 AFC Champions League winners |
| Al Ain | Abu Dhabi, UAE | UAE Pro League | AFC | 2023 AFC Champions League winners |
| Ulsan HD | Ulsan, South Korea | K League | AFC | Highest-ranked AFC team not yet qualified |
| Al Ahly | Cairo, Egypt | Egyptian Premier League | CAF | 2020/21, 2022/23, 2023/24 CAF Champions League winners |
| Wydad Casablanca | Casablanca, Morocco | Botola Pro League | CAF | 2021/22 CAF Champions League winners |
| Esperance de Tunis | Tunis, Tunisia | Tunisian Ligue 1 | CAF | Highest-ranked CAF team not yet qualified |
| Mamelodi Sundowns | Pretoria, South Africa | South African Premiership | CAF | 2nd highest-ranked CAF team not yet qualified |
| Monterrey | Monterrey, Mexico | Liga MX | CONCACAF | 2021 CONCACAF Champions League winner |
| Seattle Sounders | Seattle, USA | Major League Soccer | CONCACAF | 2022 CONCACAF Champions League winner |
| LAFC | Los Angeles, USA | Major League Soccer | CONCACAF | Play-in game winners |
| Pachuca | Pachuca, Mexico | Liga MX | CONCACAF | 2024 CONCACAF Champions League |
| Inter Miami | Ft. Lauderdale, USA | Major League Soccer | CONCACAF | Guest participant nominated by host confederation |
| Palmeiras | Sao Paulo, Brazil | Brazilian Serie A | CONMEBOL | 2021 Copa Libertadores winners |
| Flamengo | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazilian Serie A | CONMEBOL | 2022 Copa Libertadores winners |
| Fluminense | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazilian Serie A | CONMEBOL | 2023 Copa Libertadores winners |
| Botafogo | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazilian Serie A | CONMEBOL | 2024 Copa Libertadores winners |
| River Plate | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Argentine Premier League | CONMEBOL | Highest-ranked CONMEBOL team not yet qualified |
| Boca Juniors | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Argentine Premier League | CONMEBOL | 2nd highest-ranked CONMEBOL team not yet qualified |
| Auckland City | Auckland, New Zealand | New Zealand National League | OFC | Highest OFC Champions League winners across last 4 years |
| Chelsea | London, England | Premier League | UEFA | 2020/21 UEFA Champions League winners |
| Real Madrid | Madrid, Spain | La Liga | UEFA | 2021/22, 2023/24 UEFA Champions League winners |
| Man City | Manchester, England | Premier League | UEFA | 2022/23 UEFA Champions League winners |
| Bayern Munich | Munich, Germany | Bundesliga | UEFA | Highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Paris Saint-Germain | Paris, France | Ligue 1 | UEFA | 2nd highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Borussia Dortmund | Dortmund, Germany | Bundesliga | UEFA | 3rd highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Inter Milan | Milan, Italy | Serie A | UEFA | 4th highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Porto | Porto, Portugal | Primeria Liga | UEFA | 5th highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Atletico Madrid | Madrid, Spain | La Liga | UEFA | 6th highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Benfica | Lisbon, Portugal | Primeira Liga | UEFA | 7th highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Juventus | Turin, Italy | Serie A | UEFA | 8th highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Salzburg, Austria | Austrian Bundesliga | UEFA | 9th highest-ranked UEFA team not yet qualified |
How each club qualified for the 2025 Club World Cup
Qualification for the 2025 Club World Cup was left to each confederation to decide how to divvy up their slots. Generally, confederations nominated their continental champions from the past four years to participate, but there were a few exceptions.
One rule played a big role in qualification to the Club World Cup across multiple confederations — no single country could feature more than two clubs qualify to the tournament, except by winning their continental championship outright.
| Confederation | Region | Allocations |
| AFC | Asia | 4 |
| CAF | Africa | 4 |
| CONCACAF | North America | 4 (+1 host) |
| CONMEBOL | South America | 6 |
| OFC | Oceania | 1 |
| UEFA | Europe | 12 |
| TOTAL | 32 |
AFC
The Asian confederation would generally have selected its four most recent winners of their continental championship tournament, the AFC Champions League, to participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
However, because the AFC Champions League switched from a calendar year schedule to a European league-based schedule for the 2024/25 competition, there was a slight gap in the schedule that messed with the system.
Therefore, the past three continental champions (Al Hilal, Urawa Red Diamonds, and Al Ain) were nominated, plus one additional side from the highest ranking club in the confederation’s points system not already qualified (Ulsan HD).
CAF
The African confederation was forced to go outside conventional nomination practices thanks to Egyptian club Al Ahly winning three of the last four CAF Champions League titles.
Therefore, after Al Ahly and Wydad Casablanca entered as continental champions from the past four years, the remaining two spots were back-filled by the highest-ranking clubs in the confederation’s point system (Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns).
CONCACAF
Originally, the North American confederation simply nominated its previous four continental champions to participate at the Club World Cup, as Monterrey, Seattle Sounders, Club Leon, and Pachuca were bound for the competition.
However, Club Leon was barred from competing due to violation of multi-club ownership rules, which resulted in a playoff being organized between LAFC, the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League runners-up to Club Leon, and Club America, the highest-ranked CONCACAF team not yet qualified. LAFC won the playoff game 2-1.
Additionally, the fifth team from CONCACAF is Inter Miami, with Lionel Messi’s side nominated to participate as a guest. Prior to the new expanded format, it was tradition for the host nation of the competition to nominate a domestic participant to the event, with MLS determining that Inter Miami would be best as the 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield winners. In reality, they likely just wanted Messi to be involved.
CONMEBOL
The South American confederation had the easiest time filling its six Club World Cup slots.
The most recent four Copa Libertadores winners were all nominated, as four Brazilian clubs (Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Botafogo) qualified. Argentine rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate were the next highest-ranked clubs in the CONMEBOL table not from Brazil, who already had exceeded the two-team limit.
OFC
Because the Oceanic confederation only gets one slot, it could not simply nominate the annual continental champions.
Instead, the OFC took their highest-ranked overall club based on the confederation’s ranking system, Auckland City, who also conveniently won all of the past four OFC Champions League titles.
UEFA
As the most prominent confederation at the club level of global football, UEFA was handed 12 slots at the competition.
These were divvied out in regular fashion. The four most recent UEFA Champions League winners would get a spot, plus the eight highest-ranking eligible clubs in UEFA’s coefficient system not to have already been nominated.
The only quirk happened thanks to Real Madrid winning two of the four Champions League titles during the qualification period, which opened up a spot for the ninth highest-ranked European team, Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg. This happened largely thanks to the two-club-per-country rule, which eliminated the likes of Liverpool (Chelsea and Man City from England), Barcelona (Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid from Spain), and AC Milan (Inter and Juventus from Italy) from contention, amongst others.
