FIFA confirmed this Thursday that there are already nine clubs qualified for the new format of the Club World Cup which, from 2025, will have 32 teams representing six confederations. Among the teams already qualified are Palmeiras by Abel Ferreira and Flamengo by Vítor Pereira, as well as Chelsea and Real Madrid, the last champions of Europe.
A competition that will take place every four years and starts with the winners of the biggest club competition of each Confederation in the four editions that precede the World Cup, as is the case of the Champions League in Europe or the Libertadores Cup in South America. The only exception will be Oceania, which will have only one representative to be determined by the club that achieves the best results in the combined four-year period.
With the first edition scheduled for 2005, at least two clubs qualified by Confederation are already known. We’ve already talked about Palmeiras and Flamengo, who won the last two editions of the Libertadores, we can also add Chelsea (2020/2021) and Real Madrid (2021/22) who also won the last two editions of the Champions League.
In the case of Europe and South America, if there are clubs that have won the continental trophy more than once, the vacancy will be filled using the confederation ranking for the same four-year period. Europe, in addition to the four winners of the Champions League, has eight extra seats, while South America, with a total of six representatives, will also have two extra seats.
Africa also already has two qualified clubs, Al Ahly (Egypt) and Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), as well as CONCACAF (Central America, North and Caribbean), as Monterrey (Mexico) and Seattle Sounders (USA), but in Asia is only qualified for Al Hilal, from Saudi Arabia. In Oceania, Auckland is, at this time, the best positioned clue to get the Oceania vacancy, but it still depends on future results.
In total, nine of the 32 clubs that will decide the World Cup title in 2025 have already qualified.
The remaining vacancies will be filled as follows:
Europe (UEFA): 12 places (plus one for the host)
South America (Conmebol): 6 places
Africa (CAF): 4 places
ASIA (AFC): 4 seats
Concacaf: 4 places
Oceania (OFC): 1 seat
