FIFA Club World Cup Explained: Who Can Inter Milan and Juventus Play and When Is the Draw?
Published on: December 5, 2024
The controversial new Club World Cup moves a step closer to becoming reality on Thursday evening, with the draw for the eight groups taking place in Miami.
And with Inter Milan and Juventus both representing Serie A in the revamped competition, there is plenty of interest as far as Italian football is concerned.
Gone are the days of the Intercontinental Cup and of the six-team Club World Cup, with the competition now expanded to 32 teams.
The tournament, which former FIFA president Sepp Blatter once described as a “mistake” is Gianni Infantino’s latest roll of the dice to secure both political clout and generate even more money.
Whether interest will follow suit remains to be seen. The prospect of watching 32 teams slug it out for a month may seem intriguing at first, but the disparity between European clubs and the rest of the competition could lead to a lopsided tournament.
At the same time, UEFA’s representatives may not be at their peak as the tournament will be played in June and July following a gruelling season.
As ever with FIFA, justified concerns are swatted away in the name of growing the game. And so the Club World Cup is here to stay and will be played once every four years, like the proper World Cup.
Here is all you need to know about FIFA’s newest competition ahead of the draw, which takes place at 6pm GMT on Thursday.
Which Serie A teams are taking part?
Inter Milan and Juventus will represent Serie A at the Club’s World Cup this summer.
Both of them have qualified courtesy of their UEFA ranking over the past four years, which is determined by a club’s performance in European competitions over the period.
In practical terms, the further a team goes in the Champions League, the more points it accrues.
In that respect, Inter’s bid has been significantly helped by their run to the Champions League final in 2023, which they ultimately lost to Manchester City.
How did teams qualify?
There were two paths to qualify for the Club’s World Cup, one via continental competitions and the other via each confederation’s ranking system.
Effectively that means every club that won the UEFA Champions League, the Copa Libertadores, the CONCACAF Champions Cup, or the Asian and African equivalents between 2021 and 2024 qualified automatically.
Beyond them, the teams with the highest ranking within each confederation also qualified.
Significantly, only the two top teams in terms of UEFA ranking in any given European country could qualify for the tournament, hence why Liverpool, who reached the Champions League final in 2022, missed out.
The same applies to seven-time European Cup and Champions League winners AC Milan, who have paid the price for years of underperforming on European football’s biggest stage.
Which other teams are taking part?
Another 30 teams will join Inter and Juventus in the revamped Club’s World Cup, with UEFA taking 12 of the 32 overall spots available – the highest quota of any confederation.
Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea all qualified. by virtue of winning the Champions League over the past three years.
Meanwhile Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, Porto and Red Bull Salzburg were all included because of their UEFA ranking.
Can Inter and Juventus be paired together?
There will be no Derby d’Italia at the Club World Cup, at least not in the group stages as teams from the same confederation cannot be paired together.
With 12 representatives, UEFA is the only exception to the rule as the top-four ranked European clubs from Pot 1 will be paired with the lowest four ranked UEFA clubs from Pot 2.
That means Juventus will face one between Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or PSG.
Inter, meanwhile, will be drawn against one of the South American teams from Pot 1, meaning they will avoid both of the South American clubs in Pot 3.
Which clubs are seeded?
Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense
Pot 2: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, Salzburg
Pot 3: Al Hilal, Ulsan, Al Ahly, Wydad, Monterrey, Club Leon, Boca Juniors, Botafogo
Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance Sportive de Tunisie, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami
How does the Club World Cup work?
The Club World Cup follows the same format of the men’s and women’s international World Cups.
The 32 teams will be split in eight groups of four, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the knockout stages.
In the Round of 16, the winner of Group A plays the runner-up in Group B, with the second-placed team in Group A facing the Group B winners and so on.
Unlike the international World Cups, however, there’s no third-spot playoff in the Club World Cup.
Where will matches be played?
The tournament will be spread across 12 different cities in the USA and will serve as a dress rehearsal ahead of the World Cup, which will be hosted across the USA, Mexico and Canada in 2026.
The opening fixture will be played at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, which host six Super Bowls, most recently in 2019, and the Copa America final in the summer.
The final, meanwhile, will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
These are the 12 host venues.
- Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium
- Charlotte, TQL Stadium
- Cincinnati, Bank of America Stadium
- Los Angeles, Rose Bowl Stadium
- Miami, Hard Rock Stadium
- Nashville, GEODIS Park
- New Jersey, MetLife Stadium
- Orlando, Camping World Stadium
- Orlando, Inter&Co Stadium
- Philadelphia, Lincoln Financial Field
- Seattle, Lumen Field
- Washington DC, Audi Field
How to watch the Club World Cup
Streaming platform DAZN has secured exclusive rights to the tournament and will show all 63 matches live on its platforms. At the time of writing, the platform is yet to confirm whether it will sub-license rights to local free-to-air broadcasters.
DAZN currently holds the domestic rights to Serie B in Italy until the end of the 2026-27 season, but does not broadcast football in the UK.
