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The curtain comes down on the first edition of FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup when reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain face Chelsea in Sunday’s final at the MetLife Stadium, with Donald Trump among those set to be in attendance.

It is the kind of glamour match-up that FIFA president Gianni Infantino would have been hoping for to wrap up the tournament, which on Saturday he labelled as marking the start of “the golden era of club football”.

Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca acknowledged ahead of the game that PSG are “probably in this moment the best team in the world”, and the French side are hoping to cap off the most remarkable of seasons by completing a stunning clean sweep of trophies.

PSG won a French league and cup double before claiming the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history with a record-breaking 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in the final at the end of May.

Luis Enrique’s side have carried that form over into the Club World Cup, putting four goals past Atletico Madrid in the group stage and four more past Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami before defeating Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

They then produced a masterclass in a 4-0 thrashing of Real Madrid in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

“It has been a fantastic season and for us it is very important that we end it in the best possible manner,” Luis Enrique said as he spoke to reporters on Friday.

It would be a shock if Chelsea claimed the trophy against a PSG side led by Ballon d’Or candidate Ousmane Dembele.

However, the Stamford Bridge side came to the United States fresh from finishing fourth in the Premier League and winning the UEFA Conference League.

“They are one of the hottest teams in the world at the moment, but this is the final, a one-off game,” said Chelsea’s Reece James.

“Everyone has them down as strong favourites, but I have been in many finals before where we have been favourites and we have not come out on top.

“That doesn’t mean too much to me, and I don’t really care that everyone is bigging up the opposition.”

Chelsea were hoping that midfield lynchpin Moises Caicedo would recover in time from a twisted ankle picked up in the semi-final victory over Fluminense on Tuesday.

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Heat and huge prize money 

The match will be played at the 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. The home of NFL sides the New York Giants and New York Jets will also be the venue for the 2026 World Cup final.

It goes ahead at 3:00 pm local time (1900 GMT) amid ongoing concerns about the impact of high temperatures during the tournament, with Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez warning on Friday that playing in the middle of the afternoon was “very dangerous”.

There are also concerns about the long-term impact on players of the match calendar – the final will be the 65th game for PSG since their season began last August, and the 64th for Chelsea.

However, the financial rewards for all teams involved in the Club World Cup are enormous, especially for the finalists.

Chelsea and PSG are assured to go home with over $100 million in prize money, with the definitive amount to become clear after the final – that money will be particularly welcome for Chelsea after they were recently fined by UEFA for breaching financial rules.

Infantino, meanwhile, was in a buoyant mood as he spoke to the media at Trump Tower in New York City on Saturday.

“We created something new, something which is here to stay, something which is changing the landscape of club football,” he said of the 32-team tournament, the next edition of which is set to take place in 2029.

“It is already the most successful club competition in the world.”

Lionel Messi continued his historic Major League Soccer scoring run Saturday, netting two goals for the fifth game in a row to lift Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over Nashville.

Just days after he became the first player to score multiple goals in four straight MLS matches, Messi did it again as Miami continued their climb up the Eastern Conference standings after their league hiatus for the Club World Cup.

Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a trademark left-foot free-kick, which found the only gap in Nashville’s defensive wall to go past goalkeeper Joe Willis.

Miami dominated in the first half but just four minutes after half-time, Hany Mukhtar’s header pulled Nashville level.

Messi grabbed the winner in the 62nd minute when he capitalized on a bad mistake from Willis, who misjudged a pass to tee up the Argentine for the strike.

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The two goals — on the heels of his two in a 2-1 win over New England on Wednesday — took Messi’s total to 16 in 16 appearances this season, tied with Nashville’s Sam Surridge, who was unable to add to his tally of 16 on Saturday.

“There are not many words. It’s incredible what he keeps doing, breaking records now every three days, not even every weekend,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said.

“He is the standard-bearer of our team that shows us the way to compete. He is the leader.

“It’s a blessing for me to accompany this stage of his career.”

Miami were playing their third match since returning to MLS action in the wake of a month-long Club World Cup campaign that ended when they were eliminated in the last 16 by Paris Saint-Germain.

With 38 points from 19 matches, they are in fifth place in the East, five points behind leaders Philadelphia with three games in hand.

Philadelphia went top with a 2-0 victory over New York Red Bulls, Indiana Vassilev and Bruno Damiani delivering the goals.

Cincinnati slipped to second in the East on 42 points after falling 4-2 to Columbus. Nashville and Columbus both have 41 points.

Miami’s jam-packed schedule continues Wednesday against Cincinnati, with the New York Red Bulls coming up next weekend.

Mascherano knows he will have to find time to give the 38-year-old Messi some rest.

“At some point we are going to have to find a space to give him some rest, we are going to talk about it day by day,” he said.

“He is feeling good and when we think it is time to give him some rest, we will do it.”

Liberia’s president was “honoured” to meet US counterpart Donald Trump this week and wasn’t offended by Trump’s comment about his fluency in English — his mother tongue — Liberia’s foreign minister said on Friday.

The US president’s comment has even inspired a catchy tribute song in the West African country.

Trump praised President Joseph Boakai on Wednesday for his English-speaking skills, apparently unaware that English is the official language of Liberia.

Responding to remarks Boakai made at a White House mini-summit of the presidents of five mineral-rich countries in West Africa, the US leader said, “Such good English… Where were you educated?”

READ ALSO: ‘Where Were You Educated?’ Trump Comments On Liberian President’s English

Boakai — who, like most Liberians, speaks English as a first language — laughed uncomfortably and replied he had been educated in his home country.

“We were honoured by the White House’s invitation to President Boakai for a meeting with President Trump and fellow African leaders. No offence was taken,” Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told AFP on Friday evening.

She said Liberia was keen to strengthen ties with the United States, “built on mutual respect”.

Liberia is the oldest republic in sub-Saharan Africa.

It was founded in 1822 when the American Colonisation Society, funded by the US Congress and slaveholders, began sending freed slaves to its shores.

Thousands of “Americo-Liberian” settlers followed.

They declared independence in 1847 and set up a government to rule over the native African majority.

English is the official language and the most widely used throughout the country.

English King Of Africa

In response to Trump’s faux pas, singer and former cultural ambassador Queen Juli Endee penned a song in tribute to Boakai.

“We salute JNB, our black president, Beautiful English King of Africa,” she and her band sang in a video widely shared on social media.

The clip shows them waving US flags and wearing T-shirts bearing the images of Boakai and Trump.

Liberians, meanwhile, voiced mixed reactions.

Shadrach Johnson, unemployed, welcomed the fact that Boakai had been among the small number of African leaders invited to the summit.

“He went there and spoke on behalf of the Liberian people. It’s progress,” he told AFP.

But street trader Patience Allison said Trump had insulted her head of state and sought to provoke.

“For him to ask that question, it is almost like you are making fun. He was really making fun of our president,” she said.