By Miguel Rapetti
Sep 28, 2024, 7:46 PM EDT
FIFA announced this Saturday that MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the final of the FIFA Club World Cup, which will be held in 2025 at 12 venues in the United States.
Premiering a 32-team format for this new edition, it will officially begin on July 15 to culminate almost a month later, on July 13, at MetLife Stadium, which curiously, almost a year later, will host the 2026 World Cup final. .
Along with the announcement, FIFA published the structure of the Club World Cup, as well as the other 11 venues that will host the competition, including Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), TQL Stadium ( Cincinnati), Rose Bowl Stadium (Pasadena), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), GEODIS Park (Nashville), Camping World Stadium (Orlando), Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia), Lumen Field (Seattle) and Audi Field (Washington, DC).
The selection of venues has greater relevance now that they have been announced, because the 2025 Gold Cup will end up being played on the West Coast of the United States while the Club World Cup will be almost entirely on the East Coast.
During the event, the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, also had words, recalling that football is the most followed sport in the world and that this will mark the beginning of a new era in football.
“Football is the most popular sport on the planet, and in 2025 a new era for club football begins thanks to the most important and inclusive global competition based on sporting merit in the world, which FIFA will organize here in the United States. United,” said the FIFA president. The announcement was made at the Global Citizen Festival, held in Central Park (New York).
He also spoke about what the tournament will represent by measuring for the first time the level of the world’s clubs, similar to what is seen when there is a World Cup but by country.
“The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be played in twelve fantastic stadiums, in which the players of the 32 best teams on the planet will write a new chapter in the history of world football,” added Infantino. “This new FIFA tournament is the only example of real solidarity and inclusivity that exists globally in club football, as it will allow clubs from Africa, Asia, Oceania and Central and North America to play against the big clubs in “Europe and South America in an incredible World Cup.”
To date, part of those classified include names such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Boca Juniors, Monterrey, Seattle Sounders, among many others, but a couple of teams still remain to be known, including the possible invitation to Inter Miami as has been rumored in recent days to host Lionel Messi within its ranks, while another will be from South America.
The draw will be held in December with the confirmation of the 32 participating teams and later new information about the event will be provided, which will distribute the 32 best clubs in the world into eight groups of four to compete in the group stage. The match schedule will be published shortly after the draw.
Keep reading:
- Concacaf forgets about the East Coast for the 2025 Gold Cup
- FIFA announced what the format of the new Intercontinental Cup is like
- 2025 Club World Cup in the US could be postponed, according to reports