Another Victory for Europe in the FIFA Club World Cup
Predicting the winner of the FIFA Club World Cup is going to be a far more difficult task than in the past. A revamped and considerably longer format is in place for this year’s tournament. It takes place between June 14 and July 13 but who is likely to be crowned world champions?
It’s Manchester City who are the defending champions but they face a much more difficult task this year in the USA. They only had to win two matches to lift the trophy in 2023 and there were only seven clubs taking part in the week-long tournament.
This time around, there are 32 clubs from around the world taking part. To win the trophy, seven matches will have to be played. It all starts with the 32 clubs divided up into eight groups of four. The top two in each group make their way into the knockout stages. There’ll be plenty of betting opportunities for a variety of markets in this tournament.
There are some notable absentees in this FIFA Club World Cup. For example, there’s no Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, Napoli or Bayer Leverkusen. That’s three current champions in major European leagues. Results achieved between 2021 and 2024 were used to decide who would qualify. It’s not the most satisfactory of qualification methods and has led to Red Bull Salzburg playing in this tournament.
England has just two representatives, namely Manchester City and Chelsea. Their Champions League triumphs in the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons earned them their spots. Manchester City are 9/2 to win the title with Chelsea at 10/1. It’s Real Madrid at 7/2 who are the favourites to lift the trophy.
Betting on a European club to win the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is not going to win you a fortune. It’s 1/12 that the winning club comes from that continent. It’s understandable that the odds are so short. The last 11 tournaments have all been won by European teams. The last time a non-European club won was in 2012 when Corinthians from Brazil won the title.
The betting market is dominated by European clubs. Behind Real Madrid and Manchester City are the newly-crowned Champions League winners, PSG. The French club are 6/1 to complete a quick-fire double.
Bayern Munich are 7/1 and recent Conference League winners Chelsea are available at odds of 10/1. Beaten Champions League finalists Inter are 14/1 as are Atletico Madrid. Borussia Dortmund and Juventus are both 25/1.
The highest placed non-European clubs are Flamengo and Palmeiras. The two Brazilian Serie A clubs both currently have odds of 33/1 to lift the trophy according to TOP 20 Ranked free bet offers. It’s 8/1 that a South American club wins the FIFA Club World Cup. Other contenders include Botafogo, Fluminese and Argentina’s River Plate and Boca Juniors.
The odds of a non-European or South American club winning the tournament are 16/1. It’ll be a massive shock if that does happen with Al Hilal the best priced side at 40/1. There are three American clubs and that includes Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami. They are 66/1 to win the final with the other two from the USA being Los Angeles FC (80/1) and Seattle Sounders (100/1).
Manchester City should be able to qualify with ease from Group G. They take on Wydad Casablanca, Al Ain and Juventus. It’s 2/5 that they top the group with Juventus at 4/1 tipped to also qualify. City get their campaign underway with a match against Wydad Casablanca on June 18.
It’s 1/10 that CIty win that match with their opponents available at 33/1 to spring an upset. A draw has odds of 9/1. City then face Al Ain on June 22 before taking on Juventus on June 26. That final match should be the one that determines the group winners.
With American ownership, Chelsea would love to win this competition. The English Premier League side are 4/7 to win Group D. They face Flamengo, Los Angeles FC and Esperance de Tunis. Flamengo are the second favourites at 9/4.
June 16 sees Chelsea play their first match with Los Angeles FC being their opponents. They recently won a play-in match to earn their place in this competition. That filled the spot left vacant after Leon was thrown out due to multi-ownership problems. Chelsea are 2/5 to beat the MLS side. Los Angeles FC are 8/1 and it’s 4/1 the game ends in a draw.
That game is followed by a match against Flamengo on June 20 with their final group fixture being against Esperance de Tunis four days later.
It will be interesting to see how clubs treat this competition. Its timing hasn’t gone well with clubs and particularly players. It will be important for the hosts as they prepare to co-host next year’s FIFA World Cup. Building interest in the game is probably going to be the most important aspect of this tournament.
