Chelsea have learned their opponents for the Club World Cup following the group stage draw in Miami.
The new-look Club World Cup, a 32-team tournament taking place between June 15 and July 13, 2025, will be held in stadiums across the United States.
Behdad Eghbali was representing the Blues at the draw. Speaking at the draw, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: “Football has united the world through the World Cup, but there was nothing for clubs… The club world cup will be a new era for football.”
Who, then, will be embarking on that new era alongside Chelsea? First to be drawn alongside the Blues in Group D was Brazil’s CR Flamengo. Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo were founded in 1895 as a rowing club. The Rubro-Negro are one of two Brazilian clubs never to have been relegated from the top flight, and they boast seven league titles. They are considered to be the most popular team in Brazil, with an estimated following of over 40 million fans, and qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the Copa Libertadores in 2022.
The opening match of Chelsea’s Club World Cup will be against Mexican side Club Leon, who won the CONCACAF Champions League in 2021. Known as the Emeralds, Leon are incredibly successful domestically, with eight league and five cup titles to their name, but the CONCACAF Champions League win which qualified them for the Club World Cup was the first in their history.
Completing the group is Esperance Tunis, the most successful club side in Tunisian history with 33 league titles. Add into the mix 15 Tunisian Cup titles and 5 Tunisian Super Cup titles, and the so-called Beast of Africa have one of the more crowded trophy cabinets in world football.
There is an interesting matchup in Group A – future Chelsea starlet Willian Estevao, due to join up with Chelsea in January 2025, could line up opposite Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The other sides completing that group will be Porto and Al Ahly.
Concerns have been raised by some about the lack of rest time between domestic seasons and the summer tournament. Should Chelsea reach the final of the UEFA Conference League in Wroclaw on May 28, 2025, they will have just 13 days of rest before they have to arrive in America on June 10, five days before the start of the tournament. If they then reach the Club World Cup final on July 13, they will have just over a month of rest ahead of the next Premier League season.
Want to know more about the Club World Cup? Click here to read more about the tournament.
