The FIFA Club World Cup will get underway on Sunday, June 15, when record African champions Al Ahly take on Lionel Messi's Inter Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

The competition, which will run through to July 13, will feature 32 teams drawn from across the world.

It replaces the old annual format, which only had seven teams, with this revamped system set to take place once every four years in the year preceding the FIFA World Cup.

UEFA (Europe) has the most teams in the tournament, providing 12, while CONMEBOL (South America) follows with six. CAF (Africa) and AFC (Asia) have four teams each, while CONCACAF (North America) will have four, but five this year because of hosting rights. Oceania has only one representative.

UEFA: Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg

CONMEBOL: Palmeiras, Fluminense, Flamengo, Botafogo, River Plate, Boca Juniors

AFC: Al Hilal, Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Ulsan HD

CAF: Al Ahly, Wydad Casablanca, Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns

CONCACAF: Monterrey, Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles FC, Pachuca, Inter Miami (host)

OFC: Auckland City

The dates were backdated four years, and the winners of the main club competition, the equivalent of the UEFA Champions League, from 2021 qualified automatically.

For example, Chelsea won the 2021 UEFA Champions League, Fluminense won the 2022 CONMEBOL Libertadores, while Al Ain won the 2024 AFC Champions League. This also means that PSG have already qualified for the 2029 edition of this competition.

After the continental winners, clubs qualified through their ranking pathway, which is calculated based on coefficients over a four-year period.

The rules also dictate that only two teams per country can qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup unless they are continental champions.

For instance, Brazilian teams have dominated the Copa Libertadores since 2020, which means four Brazilian teams will be at the competition.

However, once the spots have been filled by teams that won the continental competitions, another club from the same country cannot qualify via the ranking pathway.

So in England, Chelsea and Manchester City already took up the two standard spots by winning the 2021 and 2023 Champions League, which knocked out any other English team, irrespective of their ranking coefficients.

The spot is therefore passed to the next available team of an association/country that hasn't already provided two teams.

The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four teams each and will be played in a round-robin format.

Group A: Palmeiras, FC Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami CF

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atlético Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders FC

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica

Group D: Flamengo, Espérance de Tunis, Chelsea, LAFC

Group E: River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey, Internazionale

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD, Mamelodi Sundowns

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad AC, Al Ain, Juventus

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, RB Salzburg

In a related report, Chelsea will be a higher pot than Arsenal when the 2025/2026 Champions League draw is done.

The Blues will be in Pot 1 compared to Arsenal's Pot 2 despite finishing fourth on the table.

Arsenal finished second for the third season running but will be in a lower pot than their London rivals despite a better finish in the league.

Source: TUKO.co.ke