It’s an honour to be part of FIFA Club World Cup, says de Vries | OneFootball

City Football Group Chief Operating Officer Roel de Vries says Manchester City are honoured to be part of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.

We qualified for the first edition of the new, expanded tournament by winning the 2023 Champions League and discovered our group stage opponents at a special event in Miami on Thursday.

We’ll face Wydad AC, Al Ain FC and Juventus in Group G of the 32-team competition, set to take place in the USA between 15 June and 13 July 2025.

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de Vries represented City at the draw and speaking after witnessing the event, which included several prominent names of years gone by and a public unveiling of the trophy for the first time, he stated our pride at being part of this elite group.

“It’s an honour to be here,” he began.

“It’s amazing to be part of the 32 clubs that can play for this trophy to try to become the best in the world.

“We always try to play the best football for our fans and our players so to be part of this tournament is a great honour.”

WATCH: WATCH: See who City drew in Group G of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025

With the tournament spanning 12 stadiums across the United States, the tournament is the latest opportunity for our growing American fanbase to see their heroes on home soil.

“We are so pleased to be in the US. We were in the US on tour last year and it was a tremendous success,” said de Vries.

“If you look at the growth of soccer in the US and the growth of our fanbase here, we’re really excited to play here again.”

The top two in each group will progress to the round of 16, where single-leg ties will be played all the way to the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

City are well versed with the challenge of Italian giants Juventus, with Pep Guardiola readying his side to face them in the Champions League next week.

However, we have never played Moroccan side Wydad AC or Abu Dhabi based Al Ain FC competitively before and de Vries believes the prospect of facing unfamiliar foe is a thrilling aspect of the new competition.

“It’s quite an exciting draw,” he said.

“One team we’ve played a lot and actually play them next week, Juventus. It’s a big game, we’ve always had big games against them.

“Then there’s two teams we’ve never played so it’s going to be an interesting group. They’re tough opposition so they’re going to be good games.”