Category World News

FIFA Club World Cup 2025: Teams, full schedule, prize money, how to stream

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The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 kicks off in the United States on Saturday, with 32 teams vying for the title in the new-look expanded intercontinental club competition.

Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament:

What is the FIFA Club World Cup?

Until 2023, the FIFA Club World Cup was staged as an annual tournament every December and participation was limited to the winners of the continental club competitions, with the number ranging between six to eight clubs.

Starting in 2025, football’s governing body expanded the tournament to 32 teams and decided to run the revamped competition on a quadrennial cycle instead, similar to its showpiece FIFA World Cup.

A new FIFA Intercontinental Cup replaced the old Club World Cup as an annual competition in December 2024 with Real Madrid winning the inaugural edition held in Qatar.

How does the new Club World Cup work?

Historically, the Club World Cup has featured no more than eight teams, but the 2025 edition is vastly different.

This year’s edition on US soil will be the first in the tournament’s 24-year history to feature 32 clubs – the same number of teams as recent FIFA World Cups – including the winners of the four previous continental championships.

The teams will be divided into eight groups of four competing in a round-robin group stage with the top two clubs from each group advancing to the knockouts, which begin with the round of 16 and end with the final.

When is the FIFA Club World Cup?

The competition will begin on June 14, with the final scheduled for July 13. Here’s a breakdown of the schedule.

  • Group stage: June 14 to 26
  • Round of 16: June 28 to July 1
  • Quarterfinals: July 4 and 5
  • Semifinals: July 8 and 9
  • Final: July 13

Which teams will participate in the Club World Cup?

“Soccer” fans in the US will have the chance to watch some of the most popular clubs, including last season’s UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid, Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, 10-time English champions Manchester City and Italian heavyweights Inter Milan.

Qualified teams were determined by the winners of the continental club competitions, such as the Champions League, and the confederation’s four-year rankings.

Outside of Europe, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is also part of the tournament, having controversially earned a spot as a representative of the host nation. Inter Miami won the Supporters’ Shield, handed to the team with the best regular-season record.

Lionel Messi, who has been playing domestically in the United States since 2023, will be under the spotlight as he takes part in the Club World Cup  [File: Rebecca Blackwell/AP]

Of the 32 clubs, Europe (UEFA) is the best-represented confederation with 12 teams, followed by South America (CONMEBOL) with six. Asia (AFC), Africa (AFC) and North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) have four teams each.

Oceania is represented by one club, while the final slot has been allocated to the host nation’s representative, Inter Miami.

Mexican club Leon had qualified by winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2023, but were removed by FIFA due to an ownership rule breach. FIFA said that Club Leon and another Mexican club in the tournament, Pachuca, did not meet regulations on multi-club ownership. Pachuca’s spot in the competition was unaffected.

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Leon’s appeal, FIFA confirmed a playoff between Los Angeles FC and Mexican side Club America that was won by LAFC.

Here is a list of the eight groups:

  • Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami
  • Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders
  • Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica
  • Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, LAFC
  • Group E: River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey, Inter Milan
  • Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD FC, Mamelodi Sundowns
  • Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus
  • Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, FC Salzburg
May 31, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; LAFC celebrates defeating Club America in extra time during a playoff match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at BMO Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
LAFC was the 32nd and final qualifier for the FIFA Club World Cup after defeating Club America in extra time during a playoff match on May 31 [Gary A Vasquez/Imagn Images via Reuters]

Why are Chelsea, Inter Miami in, and Barcelona, Liverpool out of the FIFA Club World Cup?

FIFA rules for the Club World Cup state that only two teams from each country can play in the tournament, and European clubs’ participation was decided by their performances in the Champions League over the last four seasons.

Man City (2023) and Chelsea (2021) won the Champions League during that four-year window, taking up the two spots.

Other popular clubs such as Napoli, AC Milan, Barcelona, RB Leipzig and Sevilla also missed out due to UEFA’s four-year club coefficient rankings and two-team restrictions.

Where are the Club World Cup venues?

The 63 matches will be played across 12 venues in 11 cities. The opening match, Al Ahly vs Inter Miami, will be played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which has a spectator capacity of 65,000.

The MetLife Stadium, which serves as the home for the New York Giants and New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL), will host both the semifinals and the final. MetLife is an 82,500-seat venue and was also chosen as the venue of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, best known as a college American football venue, is the biggest stadium with a capacity of 88,500. It is no stranger to hosting big events: the Rose Bowl was the site for the football gold medal match at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, as well as the men’s World Cup final a decade later. It will also be a venue for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.

Here’s the full list of venues:

  • MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
  • Hard Rock Stadium (Miami, Florida)
  • Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)
  • Lumen Field (Seattle, Washington)
  • Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, North Carolina)
  • TQL Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
  • Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles, California)
  • GEODIS Park (Nashville, Tennessee)
  • Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
  • Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
  • Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
  • Audi Field (Washington, DC)

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Will Messi and Ronaldo play in the FIFA Club World Cup?

Messi will, thanks to Inter Miami’s surprise qualification.

Messi’s club found a place as the club with the most points in Major League Soccer’s (MLS) regular season, instead of LA Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup, which is regarded as the highest prize in the MLS.

FIFA announced Miami’s addition to the Club World Cup in October after they broke MLS’s regular-season points record with a 6-2 win over New England Revolution to reach 74 points. New England had set the previous record in 2021 with 73 points.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo and his Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr did not qualify for the tournament, but it didn’t stop FIFA President Gianni Infantino from suggesting that the Portugal star could switch to one of the teams participating in the tournament.

“Cristiano Ronaldo might play in the Club World Cup,” Infantino told online streamer IShowSpeed in late May. “There are discussions with some clubs, so if any club is watching and is interested in hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup, who knows? Still, a few weeks’ time, will be fun.”

However, Ronaldo cleared his position by saying, “You can’t take part in everything.”

“You have to think about the short, medium and long term. It’s a decision practically made on my part not to go to the Club World Cup, but I’ve had quite a few invitations to go.”

How much is the prize money for the Club World Cup?

The total prize pot is $1bn, with the champions earning up to $125m.

About half of the $1bn will be divided between the 32 clubs, with the amount per club based on sporting and commercial criteria. It means that clubs such as Manchester City and Real Madrid will receive a greater percentage than smaller clubs in a model FIFA developed with the European Club Association.

A further $475m will be awarded on a performance-related basis. Hence, the team with the most wins over a potential seven matches will bank more cash, with a maximum pot of $125m available.

How to follow and stream the Club World Cup live

Al Jazeera Sport will run a live photo and text commentary stream for a selection of the biggest group stage and knockout games.

Online provider DAZN will stream the tournament worldwide, with territorial sublicensing to local free-to-air linear broadcast networks a possibility.

Israel deports six from Gaza aid boat Madleen, two more still in custody

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Palestinian rights group Adalah has confirmed Israel’s deportation of six more activists detained on board the Madleen aid ship as they sought to draw international attention to Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza.

The rights group, which legally represented the 12 passengers who were seized by Israeli forces in the eastern Mediterranean earlier this week, said on Thursday that the six detainees – two French citizens, including Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, and nationals of Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkiye – had departed Israel.

Another two French nationals remain in Israeli custody awaiting deportation on Friday, Adalah told the news agency AFP.

“While in custody, volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement,” said Adalah.

Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament, had previously been barred from entering Israel and the Palestinian territory, due to her support for boycotts of the country in light of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had dismissed the aid boat as a “selfie yacht”, posted a photo of Hassan on what appeared to be an aeroplane, confirming the deportation of the six passengers.

Four of the ship’s passengers, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and Al Jazeera Mubasher reporter Omar Faiad, were deported on Tuesday.

‘We will not stop’

On Thursday, Hassan’s X account featured a post, calling on supporters to assemble in Place de la Republique in Paris, where protests calling for the release of the passengers still in Israeli detention and a lifting of the Gaza blockade had been held earlier in the week.

German citizen Yasemin Acar was also among Thursday’s deportees. A video circulating online showed her saying that she had arrived in Germany. “I just arrived in Germany. I am safe. But one thing is very clear: The siege of Gaza is still ongoing. The illegal blockade is still ongoing. People are still starving.”

“The only reason I did this, as a German citizen, is because my country, the very ground that I’m standing on, is not doing what they’re supposed to do. They’re sending more weapons … We need to stop this. We need to hold our politicians accountable for the genocide, for the starvation, for the killing of children, thousands of men and women. We will not stop.”

All 12 people on board the Madleen have been banned from Israel for 100 years.

‘Catastrophic hunger’

The United Nations has warned that Gaza’s entire population faces “catastrophic hunger” following nearly two years of war and over two months in which Israel has been blocking or heavily restricting the entry of food and other essential supplies.

Following an 11-week total blockade from March to May, Israel set up a new aid programme replacing existing networks run by the United Nations and charities, run by the shadowy US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

However, the sporadic distribution of supplies to Palestinians has been marred by repeated shootings, with more than 220 aid seekers killed by Israeli forces in the two weeks since the GHF began operations, according to the health authorities. On Thursday alone, at least 26 aid seekers were killed in Israeli drone attacks.

Israeli forces seized the Madleen and detained its crew early on Monday, about 100 nautical miles (185km) off the coast of Gaza, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organised the journey.

The vessel, accompanied by Israel’s navy, arrived in the Israeli port of Ashdod on Monday evening, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Can Israel’s finance minister shut down the Palestinian banking system?

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Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hits back after being sanctioned by the UK and other nations.

Israel’s far-right finance minister says he wants to cut Palestinian banks off from the global financial system.

Bezalel Smotrich’s plan has not yet been approved by the Israeli government.

But if it does happen, what could the consequences be?

Presenter: 

Cyril Vanier

Guests: 

Raja Khalidi – Director-general at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute

Shahd Hammouri – Lecturer in international law at the University of Kent

Judge declares mistrial on Harvey Weinstein rape charge

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The judge in the sex crimes retrial of disgraced entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein sex crimes retrial has declared a mistrial on an outstanding rape charge against the movie producer, after the jury foreperson refused to return to deliberate the case amid a jury room feud.

Judge Curtis Farber dismissed jurors in the New York court who had been unable to reach a verdict on the charge that Weinstein raped Jessica Mann.

“Deliberations became heated to such a degree I am obligated to declare a mistrial on the one count on which you didn’t reach a verdict,” Farber declared from the wood-panelled bench, wearing a robe and reading glasses.

Tensions within the jury in the trial have been a source of speculation for several days, and the jury foreperson said that he had been yelled at for refusing to change his vote on the rape count. He said that he felt bullied and said “No, I’m sorry,” when asked on Thursday if he would return to the jury room.

The decision is the latest development in a years-long legal saga focused on Weinstein’s record of sexual abuse during his time as a powerful figure in the entertainment industry.

More than 100 women have accused Weinstein of varying forms of sexual misconduct, and allegations against him helped spark the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with their stories of sexual abuse at the hands of powerful men in a variety of industries.

The jury convicted Weinstein of one felony sex abuse charge, stemming from allegations from former production assistant Miriam Haley, on Wednesday, and acquitted him of another. But the jury could not decide on the third charge, which stems from allegations by Jessica Mann that Weinstein raped her in 2013.

The hairstylist and actress testified for days about what she says was her rape by Weinstein in a Manhattan hotel room, an event she also recounted during the first trial in 2020. Manhattan prosecutor Nicole Blumberg has said that Mann is prepared to go to trial for a third time.

Another jury in the Manhattan court had found Weinstein guilty in 2020 of raping Mann and sexually assaulting Haley, but New York state’s highest court overturned that conviction last year.

Weinstein criticised the court proceedings after Farber’s decision.

Australia edge South Africa as bowlers dominate at WTC final

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Australia took the upper hand in the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s, ending Day Two on 144-8 in their second innings with a lead of 218 runs after wickets tumbled freely again.

A gripping contest of fluctuating fortunes seemed to be heading for a decisive third day as defending champions Australia looked to set an imposing target for South Africa to chase.

Australia had two second-innings wickets in hand at stumps on Thursday, having survived a torrid spell of bowling with Alex Carey leading the charge with a late flurry of runs after South Africa had threatened to dismiss them cheaply in their second innings.

Pat Cummins of Australia bowls against Kagiso Rabada of South Africa to be caught by Beau Webster of Australia [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]

Fourteen wickets fell on the second day, for a total of 28 over the two days, as some brilliant bowling made for an absorbing contest.

Australia captain Pat Cummins led the way with six wickets, speeding through the South African batting lineup as they were dismissed for 138, in reply to Australia’s first innings 212.

The day started with some resistance after South Africa were 43-4 overnight. They advanced to 121-5 at lunch with Temba Bavuma and David Bedingham putting on 64 runs for the fifth wicket.

Bavuma was the only player to fall in the morning as he drove the Aussie skipper into the covers and was caught by a diving Marnus Labuschagne for 36.

Kagiso Rabada of South Africa celebrates with team mate Kyle Verreynne after taking the wicket of Alex Carey of Australia during day two of the ICC World Test Championship Final 2025
Kagiso Rabada of South Africa celebrates with teammate Kyle Verreynne after taking the wicket of Alex Carey of Australia [Gareth Copley/Getty Images]

Cummins then took control after lunch to return the best bowling figures by a test captain at Lord’s, as his 6-28 gave Australia a 74-run first-innings lead.

He induced a South African slump by taking two wickets in four balls to remove Kyle Verreynne leg before wicket for 13 and Marco Jansen without scoring.

Cummins’ fifth wicket was Bedingham, caught prodding at the ball to offer an edge that went through to wicketkeeper Carey, ending an innings of 45 off 111 balls. He was South Africa’s top scorer in the innings.