FIFA Club World Cup: Format, participants, TV | OneFootball

Schedule

Format

The tournament will consist of eight groups of four, with the rules stipulating that a maximum of two European teams and one representative from any of the other confederations can be in the same group and that the two highest-seeded teams from UEFA and CONMEBOL can only meet late in the tournament. The top two teams will reach the round of 16. There will then be quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final, which will take place at the MetLife Stadium at 21:00 CEST on 13 July.

Participants

Thirty-two teams from the six confederations – OFC (Oceania, 1 spot), AFC (Asia, 4), CAF (Africa, 4), CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean, 4), CONMEBOL (South America, 6) and UEFA (Europe, 12) – will take part. The confederations that have at least four spots send the winners of their top continental competition over the last four years (2021 to 2024), while the top two South American clubs and the top eight European clubs in a four-year ranking are also involved – but there can be a maximum of two from one country. (How did BVB qualify?)

Opponents

Borussia Dortmund will face Fluminense (Brazil), Ulsan HD (South Korea) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) in Group F. Fluminense are the oldest football club from the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro and qualified as the winners of the 2023 Copa Libertadores. Ulsan HD from the south-east of Korea won the AFC Champions League, the top competition for Asian club teams, in 2012 and 2020. Mamelodi Sundowns hail from Pretoria. With 12 league titles, they are the South African record champions since the competition resumed in 1996.

Dates

Should BVB reach the round of 16 as group winners, they would play against the Group E runners-up in the night from 1 to 2 July; as group runners-up, they would face the winners of Group E (River Plate, Inter Milan, Urawa Red Diamonds and Monterrey) on 30 June (21:00 CEST).

TV broadcast

All 63 matches will be shown live and free of charge on the streaming service DAZN.

Tickets

Tickets for the BVB games are available here.

Base

Borussia Dortmund will prepare for the tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida starting 13 June and will also be based there between matches. They will train several miles south at the complex belonging to Inter Miami, Lionel Messi's club. The Florida Blue Training Center has six natural grass pitches on a total surface area of almost 5,000 square metres.

Prize money

FIFA will distribute a total of $1 billion to the 32 participants, with a further $250 million going to clubs around the world. Participants from Europe will receive a starting fee of between $12.8 million and $38.2 million, with two million for every win and one million for every draw. A place in the round of 16 will be rewarded with a further $8.5 million. $13.1 million will be paid out to the quarter-finalists and $21 million each to the semi-finalists. The finalist will receive a further $30 million, with the winner getting a further $40 million.

Trophy

The trophy is made of 24-carat gold-plated aluminium and is engraved in 13 different languages. A key enables the trophy, which is flat in its default form, to turn into a spherical sculpture consisting of several rings. All 211 FIFA member associations can be found on the trophy.

Transfers

Between 1 and 10 June, the participants in the Club World Cup can sign new players outside of the regular transfer window (from 1 July to 1 September in Germany). In addition, there is an organisational problem: the tournament takes place in June and July, thus overlapping seasons. As a rule, player contracts end on 30 June – i.e. in the middle of the tournament.

Rule changes

A new rule, which was adopted by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on 1 March for the 2025/26 season, is set to be implemented already. It aims to reduce time-wasting: If goalkeepers hold the ball in their hands for longer than eight seconds in open play, the opposing team is awarded a corner-kick.