Flamengo, Fluminense and Palmeiras will be seeded in the 2025 Club World Cup, with Botafogo, champion of the Copa Libertadores three days ago, entering pot 3 of the tournament’s group draw, FIFA (International Football Federation) announced this Tuesday -Friday (3).
The new 32-team competition will be played between June 15 and July 14 next year in the United States.
Pot 1, destined for the seeded teams, has the four European clubs — Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) — and the four South American clubs — Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras and River Plate — best placed in their respective confederations.
Pot 2 is made up solely of European teams and some of them could complicate the lives of the seeded teams: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atlético de Madrid, Benfica, Juventus and RB Salzburg.
Pots 3 and 4 will have teams from America, Asia and Africa. Botafogo is in pot 3 with Saudi Al-Hilal, owned by Neymar, and Argentine Boca Juniors.
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is in Pot 4 and the Argentine star could face PSG, his former team.
Although the order of the different continental confederations in the four pots has already been defined, the order of the teams depends on the rankings of their federations.
Internal rankings are based on teams’ performance in continental cups in recent seasons.
In the draw, which will be held next Thursday, clubs from the same country or the same confederation will not be able to fall into the same group, except for representatives from UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), which will have two representatives in four groups.
The new format will have a group stage made up of eight groups of four participants each, in which the first two in each group will qualify for the round of 16.
Distribution of teams in the pots for the Club World Cup draw
BRING 1
Manchester City (England), Real Madrid (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Flamengo (Brazil), Palmeiras (Brazil), River Plate (Argentina), Fluminense (Brazil)
BRING 2
Chelsea (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Inter Milan (Italy), Porto (Portugal), Atlético de Madrid (Spain), Benfica (Portugal), Juventus (Italy), RB Salzsburg (Austria)
BRING 3
Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia), Ulsan HD (South Korea), Al-Ahly (Egypt), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Monterrey (Mexico), León (Mexico), Boca Juniors (Argentina), Botafogo (Brazil)
BRING 4
Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan), Al Ain (United Arab Emirates), Espérance Tunis (Tunisia), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), Pachuca (Mexico), Seattle Sounders (United States), Auckland City (New Zealand), Inter Miami (United States)
