The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is just around the corner, and anticipation couldn’t be any higher. The tournament has been completely revamped this year, and it now more resembles its international counterpart rather than putting the continental champions against each other like in years gone by. The action will take place in the United States between June 14th and July 13th, and a whole host of the planet’s biggest clubs will be front and center.
Several of Europe’s heavyweights will be heading stateside, and it is they who online gambling sites have made the favorites to leave MetLife Stadium at the end of the tournament with the trophy. The latest real money gambling at Bovada odds currently prices Spanish giants Real Madrid as the +450 favorites to emerge as world champions, with Manchester City narrowly behind them at +500. They are closely followed by their continental neighbors Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, who are priced at +600 and +700 respectively.
But what of the host nation? Well, the USA will have plenty of representation at their own party this summer. Here is who will be in action.
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami secured their spot in the tournament when they won last season’s MLS Supporters Shield, the trophy awarded to the team that wins the regular season as opposed to the playoffs and subsequent MLS Cup. That garnered plenty of headlines in itself, with critics arguing that the tournament’s organizers simply had to have the greatest player of all time featuring at the tournament rather than the actual champions of American soccer. That, of course, is the Los Angeles Galaxy, the team that won the playoffs last season, while Miami was eliminated in the first round at the hands of Atlanta United.
Since Messi arrived on South Beach, the Floridian outfit have been in the spotlight. The mercurial Argentine has shone since his arrival two years ago, netting nine goals in his opening six games en route to leading his team to Leagues Cup glory. He has turned the team from MLS basement dwellers into genuine championship contenders, and last term, they won the Supporters Shield in record-breaking fashion.
Messi’s quest to win every single soccer trophy in existence continues 😂🐐 https://t.co/I1m79yEKuY
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) December 6, 2024
But despite all the goals and the fact that he has been joined in Miami by former Barcelona teammates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba, further silverware is yet to follow. Messi and Co. were shockingly downed by Atlanta United in the opening round of last season’s playoffs, and they were also recently dumped out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in the semifinals by fellow MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps.
Inter Miami will raise the curtain on this summer’s tournament, facing off with Al Ahly in the opening game at Hard Rock Stadium on June 14th. The East Coast club has a very real opportunity of qualifying from Group A, with FC Porto and Palmeiras rounding out their quartet. The American side is still a +300 underdog to top their group, but they are priced at -110 to qualify for the knockout round, indicating that the bookies feel that there is some hope that they can make an impression.
Seattle Sounders
The United States’ second confirmed team at the Club World Cup this summer is the Seattle Sounders. The Washington-based side secured their spot courtesy of winning the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League. Unlike Miami though, the former North American champions will have a hard time making it through the group stage.
While Inter will only face FC Porto from Europe, arguably one of the weaker sides heading across the Atlantic, the Sounders will face off against two heavyweights. The first of them is French champions Paris Saint-Germain, a team that has shone under Luis Enrique this season. A cohesive team led by Ballon d’Or favorite Ousmane Dembele, the Parisians have claimed the French title once again this season, while they are also safely through to both the final of the Coupe de France and the UEFA Champions League.
The second heavy hitter that Seattle will face is Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. Los Rojiblancos have had a stellar campaign as well this term, challenging for the La Liga title before ultimately falling away in the latter stages, as well as making a deep run in the Champions League that came to a controversial end. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Sounders also have the small matter of handling the champions of Brazil and South America in the form of Botafogo.
As such, it is safe to say that they are the rank outsiders to progress to the knockout round. The bookies currently price them as long as +1200 to win the group and +300 to progress. We wouldn’t be making any predictions about them making any kind of splash this summer.
Potentially Los Angeles FC
Mexican side Club Leon were expected to be CONCACAF’s fourth representative. However, due to breaching FIFA’s co-ownership rules, they have been disqualified. Now, Los Angeles FC has an opportunity to secure that final spot, but they will have to beat another Mexican outfit, namely Club America, if they are to do so. Should they win their play-in game, they will find themselves slotted into Group D alongside Chelsea, Flamengo, and Espérance de Tunis.