The inaugural 32-team Club World Cup is heading stateside in less than 12 months, taking place across the nation as FIFA trials a new flagship event in club football.
Teams from across the globe will take part in the expanded event with representation from each continental footballing body, although largely dominated by teams from Europe, while Lionel Messi, ranked at no.1 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest footballers of all time, looks set to be the poster boy once more as Inter Miami confirmed their place on home soil.
The magical playmaker's move to Inter Miami in recent years has gone a long way towards bringing attention to the ever-growing football culture in the United States as they aim to continue to inspire the next generation of budding American talent before hosting the 2026 World Cup the following year.
When is the Club World Cup draw?
The 2025 Club World Cup will be the first edition of a new 32-team tournament launched by FIFA to reinvigorate a formerly stale international club tournament, offering clubs from across the globe the chance to face off in a competitive.
The outgoing format pitted the seven continental champions against each other in a quick-fire knockout tournament which was almost exclusively won by the European representative, quickly becoming uninteresting and largely uncompetitive.
Of the 20 Club World Cup tournaments held since the turn of the millennia, UEFA representatives lifted the trophy 16 times, while five of the six most successful teams in the competition's history are European.
With anticipation growing ahead of next year's curtain-raiser, FIFA has confirmed the date for the group stage draw, set to take place in Miami.
The draw will be held on December 5th, taking place at 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT) and will be broadcast across FIFA's website and other supporting platforms and providers.
The 32 competing clubs will be confirmed once the winner of the Copa Libertadores is crowned later this month, locking in the final of South America's four qualification slots. Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus,Atletico Madrid, FC Salzburg are all confirmed from Europe.
Teams will be seeded into pots, taking into consideration sporting and geographical factors as far as possible and drawn into eight groups of four teams.
The tournament has already come under fire from players, who see the event as an unnecessary increase in games to an already packed schedule largely believed to be causing the recent injury crisis taking over the sport.
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