The Argentine teams Boca Juniors and River Plate, will be at the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States. But the presence of the Argentine giants raised doubts: after all, why are they going to play the tournament, even without having won Libertadores in recent years?
The explanation is in the new format of the FIFA tournament and the via classification criterion. In the case of South America, six places are reserved for Conmebol. Four of them were automatically occupied by the Libertadores champions from 2021 to 2024: Palmeiras, Flamengo, Fluminense and Botafogo.
As Brazilian clubs had already popped the share of participation, the latest vacancies were to the South American clubs from other nations with the best score in the entity’s ranking during this cycle, and it is Boca Juniors and River Plate.
The River, even without going to the finals, reached semi in 2024 and was present in all the knockouts of the period, accumulated important points with consistent campaigns and the achievement of local tournaments.
Boca, on the other hand, had extra weight on the account when reaching the 2023 Libertadores final, even without winning the title. In the accumulated ranking, the two were the best placed and ensured at the World Cup.
The will be played between June and July in the United States and will have 32 representatives.
