FIFA Club World Cup supercomputer predicts unlikely winner to scoop £97m prize
Manchester City, Real Madrid and PSG are among the favourites to claim the newly revamped Club World Cup but one of their fellow European sides has been tipped to land the trophy
A supercomputer has claimed that Benfica will stun Manchester City in the final of FIFA's Club World Cup and secure a surprise triumph this summer.
A host of the world's elite clubs will head to the United States for the newly expanded tournament, which has an impressive list of previous winners. Benfica have been tipped to land the award despite not even winning their league this year, nor have they made the semi-finals in the Champions League era.
The Portuguese club find themselves in Group C with Boca Juniors, Bayern Munich and Auckland City. Pep Guardiola's side meanwhile, who won the Club World Cup after they claimed Champions League glory in 2023, claim several scalps en route to the final.
However they come up short despite beating Real Madrid, who now have Trent Alexander-Arnold in their ranks, and recently beaten finalists Inter Milan.
Lionel Messi 's Inter Miami, one of the tournament's biggest draws, will suffer an early exit in the group stages of the tournament, finishing rock bottom in Group A which also contained Al Ahly, Porto and Palmeiras.
The latter turn out to be the best performing South American side, making it to the quarter-finals before they narrowly lose to Bayern. One of the major casualties of the tournament is the new European champions PSG. Despite their stellar season Luis Enrique's side fail to even make the last eight. They've been put into a group with Botafogo, Atletico Madrid and the Seattle Sounders.
Chelsea, the other representative from England, make the last 16 but that is where their journey ends. They're in a group with Flamengo, LAFC and Tunisian side Esperance de Tunis, but the 2021 Champions League winners failed to make major inroads.
The winner of the tournament, which has been expanded for the first time and will take a month to complete, includes a £97million prize pot as FIFA looks to take the competition to the next level. It will feature a host of the world's leading lights including Messi and Kylian Mbappe - but no Barcelona means no Lamine Yamal.
The Club World Cup Supercomputer was utilised by BoyleSports. It works based on a probability model with the supercomputer estimating the outcome of each fixture based on a team's factors like league position and form.
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