2025 FIFA Club World Group Stage Draw results: FC Bayern set to face Portuguese giants | OneFootball

The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup's group stage draw took place in Miami on Thursday. German record champions Bayern Munich have been placed in Group C along with Auckland City FC, Boca Juniors, and SL Benfica.

Bayern Munich have won the Club World Cup twice in their history — in 2013 and 2020, with the latter contributing to a historic sextuple. Until now, only the UEFA Champions League winners would get a ticket to the FIFA Club World Cup, but in the new expanded edition, 12 teams from UEFA will be participating in the tournament (four previous UCL winners and the top eight teams based on the UEFA coefficient). The 2025 Club World Cup, in a similar fashion to the FIFA World Cup, will happen once in every four years.

A total of 32 teams from across all six FIFA confederations will participate in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. The 12 clubs from Europe (UEFA) are — Chelsea, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Paris Saint Germain, RB Salzburg, and defending champions Manchester City. The best teams from South America, North America, Oceania, Africa, and Asia fill up the remaining 20 slots.

Bayern's group stage opponents

Bayern’s first game will be against Auckland City FC. The New Zealand-based team can be almost considered as a FIFA Club World Cup regular with a total of 12 previous participations, more than any other club in the tournament's history.

Bayern will be up against Argentine side Boca Juniors in their second group-stage game. The 35-time champions of the Argentine Primera Divison will feature in the FIFA Club World Cup for the second time in their history, having last participated in the 2007 edition.

The third and final game in the group stage for FC Bayern will be against Portuguese powerhouse SL Benfica. The two teams clashed recently in a UCL league phase tie on November 7 which resulted in a convincing 1–0 victory for the Bavarians. This will be the Portuguese side’s first participation in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Dates and format of the 2025 FIFA Club World cup

The revamped FIFA Club World Cup kicks off on June 15, 2025 and the final takes place on July 13 at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey. The stages of the tournament works is a similar manner to the FIFA World Cup, with the two best teams from each group advancing to the Round of 16. Single-leg knockout ties take place until the winner is crowned in the final.