A Guide To South American Teams At The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup | OneFootball

The 2025 Club World Cup gets underway this weekend, and Palmeiras, Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, River Plate and Boca Juniors will be the representatives from CONMEBOL.

The Brazilian sides come in as the past four winners of the tournament, whilst the Buenos Aires duo are the two highest-ranked South American teams across the past four seasons.

Unlike previous editions in the much smaller format, this expanded version of the tournament arrives at a time when the South American sides are right in the thick of their seasons, rather than at the back end of a long, gruelling campaign.

It’s something they’ll be hoping plays into their hands

Palmeiras

In the past five years, Palmeiras have been crowned champions of South America twice, lifting the Copa Libertadores titles in both 2020 and 2021. However, on the global stage, they’ve come up short.

In 2020, they finished fourth after suffering defeats to Tigres and Al Ahly. A year later, it was a much better showing; they beat Al Ahly before narrowly losing to Chelsea in extra time in the final.

One to watch for Palmeiras is Estêvão. The talented teenager has become a standout figure for the club in recent seasons, and his form has already earned him four Brazil caps. In this year’s Copa Libertadores group stage, he was a standout once again, scoring four goals as Palmeiras cruised through with six wins from six.

Also, keep an eye out for Vitor Roque. After a short spell in Europe, he’s back in Brazil and will be hoping to rediscover the form that saw him spearhead Athletico Paranaense to the Copa Libertadores final back in 2022. Now with Palmeiras, he’ll be hoping to make his mark on the world stage and remind everyone what he’s capable of.

Palmeiras will play Al Ahly, Inter Miami and Porto in the Group stages.

Midfielders:Felipe Anderson, Lucas Evangelista, Raphael Veiga, Aníbal Moreno, Emiliano Martínez, Richard Ríos, Allan

Botafogo

After missing out on the league title in 2023, having completely failed to get over the line, it was hard to see how Botafogo would bounce back. But what they did was not just steamroll Brazil, they conquered South America too, completing a historic Copa Libertadores and Brasileirão double in 2024.

However, things haven’t been plain sailing since. Mastermind Artur Jorge departed for Al-Rayyan in Qatar, Luiz Henrique was snapped up by Zenit, and Thiago Almada was recalled by his parent club, Lyon.

Igor Jesus played a key role in Fogo’s golden year, and he looks set to join Nottingham Forest after the tournament, along with teammates Cuiabano and Jair.

Their defence will be crucial in the competition, with the experienced Alexander Barboza, Fogo’s rock at the back, someone to keep a close eye on.

And while Gregore was sent off just one minute into the Copa Libertadores final, he remains a vital figure in midfield, the no-nonsense enforcer who does the dirty work to let Fogo’s attack flow.

Botafogo will play Atletico Madrid, PSG and Seattle Sounders in the Group Stages,

Goalkeepers:

Raul, John, Léo Linck, Cristhian Loor

Defenders:

Vitinho, Mateo Ponte, Alex Telles, Bastos, Alexander Barboza, Marçal, Kaio Pantaleão, Jair Cunha, David Ricardo, Cuiabano

Midfielders:

Danilo Barbosa, Patrick de Paula, Álvaro Montoro, Jefferson Savarino, Marlon Freitas, Kauê, Santiago Rodríguez, Allan, Gregore, Newton, Kauan Lindes

Forwards:

Artur, Rwan Cruz, Matheus Martins, Nathan Fernandes, Kayke, Joaquín Correa, Gonzalo Mastriani, Jeffinho, Arthur Cabral, Igor Jesus

Boca Juniors

Boca Juniors earned qualification to the Club World Cup by being one of the best-performing CONMEBOL teams eligible over the last four years.

Their best performance came in the 2023 edition, where they reached the final of the Copa Libertadores, where they suffered a 2–1 loss to Fluminense after extra time.

They come into this tournament in mixed, poor form, having suffered two defeats in four matches, one of which was a 1–0 loss to Independiente in the Apertura play-off stages. Despite that, they have had a month to prepare for this tournament.

Their squad features some iconic players such as Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera, and Edinson Cavani, plenty of players who have experience of playing in big football matches.

Miguel Merentiel has been key for Boca with ten goal contributions in 21 matches in 2025, while Chilean midfielder Carlos Palacios’ creativity in midfield will certainly be one to watch.

Boca will play in Group C alongside Auckland City, Bayern Munich and Benfica.

Goalkeepers:

Sergio Romero, Leandro Brey, Javier García, Agustín Marchesín

Defenders:

Marcelo Saracchi, Nicolás Figal, Marcos Rojo, Luis Advíncula, Frank Fabra, Lautaro Blanco, Juan Barinaga, Marco Pellegrino, Ayrton Costa, Mateo Mendía, Lautaro Di Lollo, Lucas Blondel

Midfielders:

Rodrigo Battaglia, Carlos Palacios, Ignacio Miramón, Williams Alarcón, Agustín Martegani, Alan Velasco, Ander Herrera, Kevin Zenón, Malcom Braida, Tomás Belmonte, Camilo Rey Domenech, Milton Delgado, Santiago Dalmasso

Forwards:

Exequiel Zeballos, Milton Giménez, Edinson Cavani, Lucas Janson, Miguel Merentiel, Brian Aguirre

Flamengo

Flamengo have been one of the standout sides in South America in 2025, under Filipe Luís, they’ve lifted the 2024 Copa do Brasil, the Supercopa, and the Carioca in 2025.

The Rubro Negro currently sit top of the Brasileirão, despite having played a game fewer than most of the teams around them. Betting predictions using similar software to NuxGame casino API have tipped the Rio club to be among the best performers from South America, along with Palmeiras.

They earned their place in this tournament by lifting the 2022 Copa Libertadores in Guayaquil with a 1-0 victory over Athletico Paranaense.

One major positive is their balance; they’ve scored 24 goals whilst conceding just four, boasting both the best attack and the best defence in the league.

Giorgian de Arrascaeta is one to keep an eye on, and with his bleach blonde hair, he’ll be hard to miss, but not only for that, in the league this season, the creative midfielder has scored nine and provided four assists in just nine matches, on international duty last week, he also found the net in Uruguay’s 2-0 win over Venezuela.

Wesley França, the flying full-back, is another name to note; his high energy and creativity from right-back have been a real asset for Flamengo, and it’s no surprise he’s being monitored by several European clubs.

Flamengo will play Chelsea, Espérance de Tunis and LAFC.

Goalkeepers:

Agustín Rossi, Matheus Cunha, Dyogo Alves, Léo Nannetti

Defenders:

Guillermo Varela, Léo Ortiz, Léo Pereira, Ayrton Lucas, Danilo, Matías Viña, Alex Sandro, Cleiton, Wesley França, Daniel Sales, João Victor

Midfielders:

Erick Pulgar, Gerson, Giorgian de Arrascaeta, Nicolás de la Cruz, Matheus Gonçalves, Jorginho, Allan, Evertton Araújo, Pablo Lúcio, Joshua

Forwards:

Luiz Araújo, Pedro, Everton, Lorran, Juninho, Bruno Henrique, Michael, Guilherme Gomes, Gonzalo Plata, Wallace Yan

River Plate

River Plate earned their place at the 2025 Club World Cup by being one of the two best-performing teams from South America. They haven’t reached the final of the Copa Libertadores since losing to Flamengo in dramatic circumstances in 2019.

They’ve been in a bit of a rebuilding stage and don’t have the money that Brazilian clubs do to be able to go out and spend. Last year, they did make it to the Copa Libertadores semi-finals but suffered defeat to Atlético Mineiro.

17-year-old Franco Mastantuono will join Real Madrid in August after bursting onto the scene with the Argentine giants. A great finisher who loves to run at defenders, so far in 2025 he has scored six times in 18 matches. Last week, he made his debut for Argentina, becoming the country’s youngest official debutant at 17 years and 296 days old.

River are in Group E with Inter Milan, Monterrey, and Urawa Red Diamonds

Goalkeepers:

Santiago Beltrán, Lucas Lavagnino, Conan Ledesma, Franco Armani

Defenders:

Lautaro Rivero, Federico Gattoni, Gonzalo Montiel, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Fabricio Bustos, Paulo Díaz, Leandro González Pírez, Marcos Acuña, Germán Pezzella, Milton Casco

Midfielders:

Giorgio Costantini, Santiago Lencina, Santiago Simón, Kevin Castaño, Giuliano Galoppo, Matías Rojas, Pity Martínez, Matías Kranevitter, Manuel Lanzini, Maximiliano Meza, Rodrigo Aliendro, Ignacio Fernández, Enzo Pérez

Forwards:

Franco Mastantuono, Ian Subiabre, Bautista Dadín, Gonzalo Tapia, Facundo Colidio, Sebastián Driussi, Miguel Borja

Fluminense

It’s been a hectic few years for Fluminense. In 2023, they conquered South America for the first time by defeating Boca Juniors at the Maracanã, a 2-1 victory after extra time. Then, 2024 was a season to forget as they narrowly escaped what would have been a bizarre scenario of Flu playing in the second tier of Brazil and in the Club World Cup. Their last five matches of the Brasileirão season in 2024 saw them go unbeaten and win their final two matches as they secured their top-flight status on the final day.

2025 has been much better for Fluminense, who sit in sixth place after 11 matches.

Thiago Silva will captain the side, bringing experience. Tricky Colombian winger Jhon Arias is one to watch. When he’s on it, he can terrorise defenders just like he did to Boca in the 2023 Copa Libertadores final. Kevin Serna is the club’s top scorer so far in 2025.

At 44 years old Fábio is the oldest player in the tournament.

Flu are joined by Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns.

Goalkeepers:

Fábio, Marcelo Pitaluga, Gustavo Ramalho, Vitor Eudes

Defenders:

Samuel Xavier, Thiago Silva, Ignácio, Renê, Gabriel Fuentes, Juan Pablo Freytes, Guga, Manoel, Thiago Santos

Midfielders:

Facundo Bernal, Matheus Martinelli, Ganso, Nonato, Rubén Lezcano, Hércules, Isaque, Lima, Wallace Davi

Forwards: