A New Frontier To Conquer - The 2025 Club World Cup Thread

South America standing up on this tournament

every year we hear about European domination but South America still in the fight delicate being pillaged for talent

 

Only Auckland have been whipping boys in this tournament. Australia plays in Asian Federation hence a semi pro team from NZ qualified from Oceania.

Maybe Aussies should go back to Oceania since World Cup has 48 teams from 2026 onwards. Earlier Oceania #1 had to face 5th best NT in South America for a World Cup spot and hence Australia jumped to Asian Federation.

_______

Want Boca to go through so hopefully they beat Auckland by big margin and Bayern thrash Benfica.

 

One of them will win this whole thing.

 

Oceania should join AFC.

 

It should just goes back to the old format.... or at least, reduce it to a tournament of 16 teams.

 

South America also historically takes the old CWC super seriously, you see the emotion in the players. As a neutral they’re the ones fans probably want to win if your own team isn’t in it.

The Saudi teams this time around are probably playing with huge bonuses attached because they seemed to care too much about that pen we go awarded.

 

1936180628442992934 is not a valid tweet id

1936205338056781865 is not a valid tweet id

 

I used to play with a Japanese guy who drove a lowrider truck and had corn rows, when Japanese appropriate culture they go all in

 

I actually enjoy the inter-continental matchup, but the tournament is just too big.

Edited: I need to rethink of my opinion. Some those Euro-S.American games reminded me of the Toyota Cup games in the 1980's. Some teams came to prove themselves.

I also really enjoyed the element of the unknown in this tournament. In a typical World Cup over the past 40 years, most national teams are already quite familiar with each other, aside from a few exceptions. My first World Cup finals were in 1982, and back then, European teams had very little knowledge about the players from Argentina and Brazil. Zico, Maradona, etc only played a handful games against European opponents. Falcao was the only Brazilian starter playing in Europe at the time. Yesterday, the highlight of the LAFC vs Esperance game showed me on my Youtube feed. I watched the entire highlight without knowing where Esperance came from.

 

I came to the conclusion that a club world cup is better than a regular WC. Of course, attendance is an issue, but in terms of quality and interesting stuff, it's a no brainer.

Regular WC is filled with terrible matches involving minuscule teams as well.

Elite NTs are great but they don't play as solid as elite clubs with players who play together throughout the year.

Sure, the atmosphere is different, but the CWC is in no way inferior to WC in terms of quality.

Of course, European clubs don't seem much invested in this. But I think this will change over time and become a prestigious trophy.

 

If the money keeps rolling in, I certainly see the potential.

 

Nah bro. Not even close. I’d take time off work to watch the World Cup

this I keep in the background while I work

we already had the CL and Copa libertatores and the local leagues and the local cups etc. There really isn’t much appetite for more club football outside of seeing how South America hangs with Europe which has been the main and only draw of this tournament so far

we just happen to be South American so we are enjoying it

but World Cup is a whole other level of engagement and entertainment

 

Like I said, the atmosphere is different. In terms of football played, no difference at all.

 

This tournament doesn’t make much sense, since it’s every four years, and club football has an annual cycle, but it has been fun to watch.

My hope is that the ultimate result of this tournament is that it convinces FIFA to expand the annual CWC/Intercontinental Cup into a true world championship. Right now, with only one team per confederation, it just functions as a cherry on top for the team that won the Champions League the previous year. It’s not like anyone considers Real Madrid as the world champion for the 2024-25 season.

But if you had 16 teams, it would be closer to a true world championship. I’d format it like this:

Pot A: all four Champions League semifinalists.
Pot B: Champions of CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, AFC, and CAF.
Pot C: OFC champion and three remaining Copa Libertadores semifinalists.
Pot D: Host country champion and runners up of CONCACAF, AFC, and CAF.

Single elimination tournament played in late December through early January. In round one, teams from Pot C play teams from Pot D. Winners advance to play the four teams from Pot B in Round 2. Winners of those games advance to play the four teams from Pot A. This round is the quarterfinals, and the tournament continues like a normal knockout tournament.

This format would make it possible for the European teams to limit themselves to three games at most, while still having a wide enough selection of teams for the winner to be legitimately considered a world champion.

 

Good match going on with fluminese

 

Brazil has biased this tournament

good for them

which is why I don’t get why my paisans always want Colombian players who play there to make the jump to Europe

That’s a damn good league. Leave them
There

 

The organizers need to recognize that the concept of a "host" differs depending on the type of competition. In a national team tournament, for example, the USMNT would likely sell out every game, regardless of location. However, it's a different story when it comes to club competitions. Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders, who played primarily at home, had decent attendance.
In contrast, LAFC had to play in Atlanta — a neutral venue — and with a poorly chosen kickoff time, the result was embarrassingly low attendance. They were followed by a game against a Tunisian team in Nashville. It would be better if they played all of the games in LA or at least in California.

Of course, technically speaking, Inter Miami is the only true host team in this tournament. The other two MLS teams are qualified through playing in tournaments. They are no different from the other clubs. However, I don't mind FIFA bending the rules for the sake of a better tournament.