FIFA 2025 Club World Cup draw: How to watch & everything to know

Inter Miami CF and Seattle Sounders FC will learn their group stage opponents at the FIFA 2025 Club World Cup when the draw for the expanded, 32-team tournament takes place on Thursday in Miami, Florida.

• Watch stream below Thursday, Dec. 5 | 1 pm ET/10 am PT

Bringing together the most successful clubs from all six international confederations, the first-ever 32-team FIFA Club World Cup will be hosted across the United States from June 15 to July 13, 2025.

Two MLS teams will feature at the tournament: Seattle qualified via their historic 2022 Concacaf Champions Cup title, while Miami received the host country slot after winning the 2024 Supporters' Shield.

How the draw works

The 32 qualified teams are allocated into four pots of eight teams each, with confederation rankings and geographical diversity taken into account to ensure a competitive balance throughout the tournament.

Additionally, no group can feature more than one team from the same confederation. The lone exception is UEFA (Europe), which will be represented by 12 teams at the tournament. This means that four of the eight groups will feature two European clubs.

FIFA 2025 Club World Cup pot allocation

Pot 1: Manchester City (ENG), Real Madrid (ESP), Bayern München (GER), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Flamengo (BRA), Palmeiras (BRA), River Plate (ARG), Fluminense (BRA)

Pot 2: Chelsea (ENG), Borussia Dortmund (GER), Inter Milan (ITA), FC Porto (POR), Atlético de Madrid (ESP), Benfica (POR), Juventus (ITA), FC Salzburg (AUT)

Pot 3: Al Hilal (KSA), Ulsan HD (KOR), Al Ahly (EGY), Wydad AC (MAR), CF Monterrey (MEX), Club León (MEX), Boca Juniors (ARG), Botafogo (BRA)

Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN), Al Ain (UAE), ES Tunis (TUN), Mamelodi Sundowns (RSA), CF Pachuca (MEX), Seattle Sounders FC (USA), Auckland City (NZL), Inter Miami CF (USA)

• Pot 1 consists of the four highest-ranked teams from Europe and the four highest-ranked teams from South America.
• Pot 2 consists of the remaining European teams.
• Pot 3 consists of the two highest-ranked teams from Asia, Africa, and the North, Central America and the Caribbean region, along with South America’s two remaining clubs.
• Pot 4 consists of the remaining teams from Asia, Africa, and the North, Central America and the Caribbean region, along with Oceania’s representative and the team representing the host country, Inter Miami CF.

What groups are Miami & Seattle in?

For scheduling purposes, both clubs from the United States – Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders – have already been assigned groups.

• Inter Miami will take position four in Group A to ensure they play the tournament opener at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
• Seattle Sounders take position four in Group B to ensure they play all three group stage matches at their home stadium of Lumen Field.

Tournament format

• Group stage: eight groups of four teams per group playing in a single-game round-robin format
• Top two teams per group progress to the Round of 16
• Single-match knockout stage from the Round of 16 to the final
• No third-place playoff

By confederation: 2025 FIFA Club World Cup spots

• Asia (AFC) - 4
• Africa (CAF) - 4
• North and Central America, Caribbean (Concacaf) - 4
• South America (Conmebol) - 6
• Oceania (OFC) - 1
• Europe (UEFA) - 12
• Host country - USA
• TOTAL: 32 teams

Key dates

Tournament opener

• When: Sunday, June 15
• Where: Hard Rock Stadium | Miami, Florida

Tournament final

• When: Sunday, July 13
• Where: MetLife Stadium | East Rutherford, New Jersey

The full match schedule, including stadiums and kick-off times for each game, will be finalized and announced after the draw.

Stadiums

Seven MLS stadiums are among the 12 venues selected to host FIFA 2025 Club World Cup matches.

In addition to the seven MLS venues, five others were selected:

• Camping World Stadium - Orlando, Florida
• Hard Rock Stadium - Miami, Florida
• Lincoln Financial Field - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• MetLife Stadium - New York/New Jersey
• Rose Bowl - Pasadena, California

Major League Soccer’s first-ever FIFA Club World Cup participant, Seattle qualified for the 2022 edition of the tournament via their 2022 Concacaf Champions Cup title.

That historic triumph carried extra weight, as the Rave Green were rewarded with one of Concacaf’s four spots for the expanded, 32-team FIFA 2025 Club World Cup in the United States.

FIFA awarded Inter Miami the spot allotted to the host country at next year's Club World Cup.

Led by superstar forward Lionel Messi and fellow FC Barcelona legends Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, the Herons are coming off a historic 2024 MLS season that saw them win the Supporters' Shield and set the league's single-season points record, reaching 74 points (2.18 ppg).