🏆 Club World Cup: Inter favourites, Juve to reach final? Opta predicts | OneFootball

Who will win the Club World Cup? Who could make it to the final? Who will be the surprise?

The supercomputer of Opta Analyst has made predictions about the first edition of the 32-team world championship to answer these and other questions.

The favorites

According to Opta's simulations, Paris Saint-Germain, the current reigning European champion, has an 18.5% chance of winning the Club World Cup.

Manchester City, present as the winner of the 2022/2023 Champions League, is in second place with 17.8%. In third place is Bayern Munich, the top team in the UEFA ranking prior to the tournament, with 12.8%.

Close behind, occupying the fourth place of the favorites for the final victory with 12.3% is Inter, which qualified as the fourth best European team according to the quadrennial UEFA ranking. In fifth place with 9.8% is Real Madrid, winner of the 2021/2022 Champions League. In sixth position with 8.4%, is Chelsea, European champion in 2020/2021.

The rest of the big ones

According to Opta's calculations, Borussia Dortmund is the best participant behind the six favorites. The black and yellows of Germany, the third best team in the UEFA ranking, have a 12.8% chance of reaching the final.

Behind the finalists of the last edition of the Champions League is Atletico Madrid: the sixth best team in the UEFA ranking boasts a 12.1% chance of reaching the final act of the competition. Juventus, the eighth best European team, is third with 9.8%. In fourth place is Benfica with 8.7%.

The possible surprises

Porto, the fifth best team in the UEFA ranking, is the only team from the rest of the participants to have been assigned a probability higher than 0.5% to win the Club World Cup (0.6%). The Portuguese, according to Opta, have a 6.6% chance of reaching the semifinals.

River Plate, the best team in the CONMEBOL ranking, can also play the role of outsider: the Argentines boast a 5% chance of reaching the semifinals.

In third place, with 4.8%, we find Flamengo, winner of the 2022 Copa Libertadores. Palmeiras, 2021 South American champion, and Al Hilal, 2021 AFC Champions League champion, are in fourth place with 4.7%. In fifth place is Lionel Messi's Inter Miami, one of the last teams to qualify for the tournament as a team from the host country, with a 3.8% chance of ranking among the top four.

Interestingly, Auckland City is the only participant with no chance of even reaching the quarterfinals. In addition to the New Zealand club, the best team in Oceania, there are eight other teams with no chance of triumphing in the USA. These are Fluminense, Botafogo, Urawa Reds, Pachuca, Esperance of Tunis, Wydad Casablanca, Ulsan HD, and Al Ain.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors