EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to reflect the pot allocation ahead of the official FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group draw on Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. PT in Miami, Fla. You can watch the live stream on SoundersFC.com.
It’s official: Seattle will be a host city for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
The inaugural edition of this reimagined tournament, the FIFA Club World Cup will bring the most successful clubs on the planet to the United States. Storied powerhouses from South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Oceania will all be competing to determine the world champion of club soccer.
Back in 2023, the Sounders became the first Major League Soccer team to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup. The Rave Green will once again make history as the first American club to compete in the expanded format, and will have a chance to go toe-to-toe with the best players on the world stage.
Here are some fast facts about FIFA Club World Cup 2025:
- The tournament will include 32 teams representing the best clubs from the six continental confederations: AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), Concacaf (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania) and UEFA (Europe).
- The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 draw will take place on Thursday, Dec. 5 in Miami, Fla.
- The 32 qualified teams have been broken into four pots of eight clubs. Each group will consist of one team from each pot. The Sounders have been placed into Pot 4.
- Pot 1: Manchester City (ENG), Real Madrid C. F. (ESP), FC Bayern München (GER), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), CR Flamengo (BRA), SE Palmeiras (BRA), CA River Plate (ARG), and Fluminense FC (BRA).
- Pot 2: Chelsea FC (ENG), Borussia Dortmund (GER), FC Internazionale Milano (ITA), FC Porto (POR), Atlético de Madrid (ESP), SL Benfica (POR), Juventus FC (ITA), and FC Salzburg (AUT).
- Pot 3: Al Hilal (KSA), Ulsan HD (KOR), Al Ahly FC (EGY), Wydad AC (MAR), CF Monterrey (MEX), Club León (MEX), CA Boca Juniors (ARG) and Botafogo (BRA).
- Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN), Al Ain FC (UAE), Espérance Sportive de Tunisie (TUN), Mamelodi Sundowns FC (RSA), CF Pachuca (MEX), Seattle Sounders FC (USA), Auckland City FC (NZL), Inter Miami CF (USA)
- The FIFA Club World Cup will run from June 15 to July 13, 2025 in the United States. Seattle has been named as one of the 11 host cities for the tournament.
- All three of Sounders FC's group stage matches in the tournament will be played at Lumen Field.
- 31 of the 32 teams qualify via the champions pathway (winning their continental champions league) or the ranking pathway (top performing teams within their confederation). The final spot was awarded Inter Miami (USA) as a representative from the host country.
- There will be eight groups of four teams, with each team facing each other once in a round-robin structure. The top two teams in each group will advance to the Round of 16. From that stage forward, each fixture is a knockout game.
- The following teams have qualified from Concacaf: Monterrey (MEX), Seattle Sounders (USA), Club Leon (MEX), Pachuca (MEX) and Inter Miami (USA).
- The following teams have qualified from UEFA: Chelsea FC (ENG), Real Madrid (ESP), Manchester City (ENG), Bayern Munich (GER), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Inter Milan (ITA), Porto (POR), Benfica (POR), Borussia Dortmund (GER), Juventus (ITA), Atletico Madrid (ESP) and FC Salzburg (AUT).
- The following teams have already qualified from CONMEBOL: Palmeiras (BRA), Flamengo (BRA), Fluminense (BRA), River Plate (ARG), Boca Juniors (ARG) and Botafogo (BRA).
- The following teams have qualified from CAF: Al Ahly (EGY), Wydad (MAR), ES Tunis (TUN) and Mamelodi Sundowns (RSA).
- The following teams have qualified from AFC: Al Hilal (KSA), Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN), Al Ain (UAE) and Ulsan HD FC (KOR).
- Auckland City (NZL) is the lone representative from OFC.
- The Seattle Sounders faced off against Al Ahly in the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco. The Rave Green lost 1-0 on a goal scored in the 88th minute.
