Chelsea title winner, 39, to take charge of Blues' opponents in Club World Cup clash
CHELSEA are set to take on a familiar face in the Club World Cup group stage.
Enzo Maresca 's side begin their tournament against Los Angeles FC on Monday night.
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The Blues are joined in Group D by Tunisian side Tunis EC and Brazil's Flamengo
Felipe Luis, a former Premier League title winner with Chelsea, is Flamengo's head coach.
The former full-back spent a year on the books at Stamford Bridge between 2014-15.
He made the most of his one season in West London, winning the Prem and the Carabao Cup.
Luis also played for Atletico Madrid, Deportivo and Figuerense in his two-decade career.
He ended his playing days at Flamengo, appearing over 100 times for the Rio-based club.
Luis took over the club's youth team in January 2024 and was handed interim charge of the first XI last September.
Luis has impressed since taking over the reins, earning a new contract until the end of 2025.
He has won 31 of his 46 games in charge, with Flamengo currently leading the way in Brazil's Serie A.
And he will hope to get one over his former club when Flamengo face Chelsea on June 20 in Philadelphia.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will see the World's best players decide which club is the greatest
The tournament is likely to see fringe players given a chance to shine on the big stage.
But Chelsea keeper Djordje Petrovic has already opted out as he prepares a summer move away from the Bridge.
Petrovic, 25, enjoyed a successful loan stint at Strasbourg this past season and recently returned to the Blues' squad.
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Following his impressive performances in Ligue 1, the stopper wants to be a guaranteed starter.
That is something the West Londoners cannot currently offer him.
According to The Telegraph, the Serbia international asked to be omitted from Maresca's squad for the Club World Cup.
Strasbourg and West Ham have been linked with a swoop for the Serbian.
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BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Heavy security and Messi on show as Club World Cup begins
Lionel Messi and a heavy security presence were on show as the revamped Club World Cup got under way in the United States on city side Inter Miami, led by Argentine legend Messi, played out an entertaining goalless again Egyptian giants Al Ahly to kick off the were thankful to goalkeeper and man of the match Oscar Ustari for making a string of saves, including one from the penalty spot, to preserve a clean came close to opening the scoring in the second period with a free-kick and almost won it late on with an incredible, long-range strike but saw his effort acrobatically tipped onto the crossbar by Mohamed el event, which has been much maligned in some parts, may have started without a goal but finally the talk can be about the football - or can it? Police presence felt in Miami Matchday was the first time since arriving in Miami earlier this week that it felt like a significant tournament was about to get under the South Beach area, travelling Al Ahly supporters were enjoying lunch and drinks before the big Egyptian side had qualified as winners of the African Champions League and have serious pedigree, winning more league championships (45) and more titles on the continent (12) than any other club, but they could not translate that on to the global the Route 95 highway towards the stadium, advertising boards were showcasing the fixture, declaring it's "showtime" in true American last major game to be played at the Hard Rock Stadium took place 11 months ago when "a party almost became a tragedy" as ticketless fans forced their way in to the ground for the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, delaying kick-off by 80 learned a tough lesson and were taking no chances, making sure there was no repeat this time as police cars with flashing sirens lined the boulevards outside the that match and recent unrest in Los Angeles in mind, police officers with 'counter terrorism' logos patrolled the exterior of the venue and numerous security checks and bag searches were made before entry was needed extra time to make their way inside as they were forced to have further checks at a second perimeter remains to be seen whether the same approach will be taken in Sunday's fixtures, which take place in LA, Cincinnati, New York/New Jersey and Seattle. Fireworks, razzmatazz and almost some Messi magic Once through the extensive screening process, it was the first time supporters bearing 'Messi 10' shirts were spotted in the city - and the glaring pink and black shirts were out in their numbers."Messi, Messi, Messi" was the chant of choice from his adoring fans, just like it had been at Argentina's glorious run to winning the World Cup in Qatar three years former Barcelona forward sent an effort narrowly over and had another bending strike saved by El Shenawy, before curling a delightful free-kick into the side netting which many of the crowd thought had gone week leading up to the opening game featured apparent ticketing issues but Fifa president Gianni Infantino said he expected "a full stadium" with an "incredible atmosphere".He positioned himself in the stands at the centre of a front three, flanked by footballing icons Ronaldo of Brazil and Italian legend Roberto Infantino wanted and what he got were two different a glance around, thousands of empty green seats were clearly evident in the 65,326-capacity stadium and a crowd of 60,927 was announced in the second the presence of Messi, the sizeable travelling Egyptian contingent - who chanted and waved flags throughout - and an action-packed game made for a watchable with all American sporting events, it began with a rendition of the national anthem, with the singer accompanied by a large stars-and-stripes from the local Miami Dade College then carried out large badges of the 32 competing clubs before place them on to each letter of a vast 'Fifa' sign atop a podium in the centre of the pitch, leaving no doubt about whom this competition belonged rapper French Montana produced a hit in the pre-match build-up, there were fireworks aplenty and, to add further razzmatazz, each player was announced on to the pitch individually before their illustrious opponents, Miami had supposedly qualified through the back door, achieving the place after claiming the Supporters' Shield - coming top of the MLS in the regular season - before being beaten in the feel MLS Cup winners LA Galaxy would have been a better choice on merit, but that would have meant a Club World Cup without Miami and their main man club's co-owner and newly knighted Sir David Beckham was given a rousing ovation from supporters as he entered the stadium and there were even louder cheers as Messi's smiling face flashed up on the big he came close, the little magician could not provide a moment of inspiration for the expectant crowd in failed to win potentially their easiest group game and come up against Portuguese side Porto on Thursday."Clearly, when we find Leo in positions and get the ball to him in the best way, that's where we have the most options," said Miama manager Javier Mascherano."We take it game by game. We know that the level will clearly rise in the next game because they're a European opponent, but we have to stay with the feeling that it's 11 against 11."Anything can happen in football." Veteran Ustari takes plaudits The lengthy pre-match activity meant the match began six minutes later than the scheduled 8pm local kick-off Ahly should have been 2-0 up in the opening eight minutes, but goalkeeper Oscar Ustari stood big to keep out efforts from Wessam Abou Ali and Emam Argentina international Ustari was being kept busy, tipping Abou Ali's free-kick over the bar and making a sharp instinctive save to deny Achraf Dari's towering best of the lot came two minutes before half-time as the inspired Ustari dived the right way to keep out Mahmoud Trezeguet's penalty after the ex-Aston Villa player was bundled over in the box by Maximiliano half-time some entertainment was added to proceedings for the crowd as YouTuber iShowSpeed, who seems to be everywhere, Sergio Aguero, Pepe, Kaka, Alessandro del Piero and Youri Djorkaeff took part in a crossbar team could find a breakthrough in the second period, with Messi coming inches away, but it was 38-year-old former Sunderland man Ustari who took the plaudits."It was a great performance," he told DAZN. "We knew it would be difficult, so many of us are enjoying this experience for the very first time, including me at my age."I think we did really well."
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Empty seats, exhausted players, excess heat – the tournament that could embarrass Fifa
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There seem to be large parts of the vast MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that have also been retired for Thursday's game between Palmeiras of Brazil and the Egyptian club Al-Ahly, although time will tell. There were still tickets available for the opening game between Al-Ahly and Inter Miami at the latter's Hard Rock Stadium in the hours before kick-off. Just a few hours left until the FIFA Club World Cup kicks off, and less than half the tickets are sold for the opening match. FIFA partnered with Miami Dade College after poor ticket sales. Every student who buys 1 ticket for $1 gets 4 extra tickets to help pack the stadium. — Cricket Business HQ (@cric_businessHQ) June 14, 2025 Of course, closing parts of a stadium to save on stewarding and concessions – and then pointing the cameras away – is an old trick that many sports deploy when ticket sales fail to meet expectations. Fifa's dynamic pricing model – a euphemism for wringing the most out of the paying fan – means that the price in some cases is starting to shift. There have been suggestions that Fifa has been obliged to refund part of the cost paid by some supporters who bought their tickets early, only for the price to fall dramatically. As of Saturday one could watch Bayern Munich play the amateur side Auckland City, from New Zealand, on Sunday for as little as $52 (£38) in Cincinnati. But if Bayern reach the final at the MetLife on July 13, the cheapest available ticket is currently $657.71 (£484.86) as a resale on the official site. The size of the crowds has the potential to be an embarrassment for Fifa in the early rounds of the competition at least. There are many ways, when it comes to the television coverage, that a skilful match director can conceal the swathes of empty seats but nothing that anyone can do to stop those attending the game posting pictures of empty seats on social media. The Fifa president Gianni Infantino insisted that his Club World Cup project was played in the bigger stadiums rather than those smaller stadiums in the next tier, many of which were MLS only. Fifa is not saying much when it comes to ticketing other than that its biggest ticket sales have been in the US, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Canada. The sales of tickets in Britain is only 11th on the list behind France, Japan, Germany, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. At a Fifa event last week, Infantino said he expected 'a full stadium' for the opening game between Miami and Al-Ahly, and doubtless efforts were made with discounts and other offers. It is a reminder that this is a tournament that has not been driven in any way by match-going fan demand. Instead the match-going fans have been retro-fitted around it. The tournament itself, as has been well trailed, is a political play by Infantino to make an incursion into the lucrative broadcast rights for the elite club game – by which one means Uefa and the Champions League primarily. The location and the suitability or otherwise for a global, international tournament has been largely incidental. It ended up in the US because of the proximity of next summer's Fifa men's World Cup but it was originally intended in 2021 for China. There may well be big attendances at some of the games, and perhaps the latter stages might even attract the kind of sell-out crowds of big venues like the MetLife of which Infantino has dreamed. But that is not why the tournament was conceived. There was no groundswell of opinion that the fans wanted a 32-team summer tournament that would settle the argument once and for all as to whether Mamelodi Sundowns were a better side than Ulsan HD, or indeed that there must be a world champion. At least not a world champion that took four weeks and 63 games to decide. There was none of the fascination that existed, for example, in the post-war years with the relative merits of one style of European club football over another, which led to the establishment of the European Cup. This was entirely confected to demonstrate that Fifa and its president could create a tournament that might rival the Champions League. One so totally out of kilter with the rhythm of club football that it needed someone to tell Fifa that players' contracts could conceivably expire midway through it unless they changed the rules. It has been an extraordinary demonstration of the power of a Fifa president – who has pushed it through regardless of legal challenge and widespread opposition. Ideally for Infantino most of the big European teams stay in it to the end as well as a selection of the South Americans. It may suit the streamer DAZN and all its sub-licensees if the European teams dominate but, for Infantino, it will look like an unnecessary re-run of the Champions League. The best chance that challengers from South America and elsewhere might have is the indifference of some of those European-based players after a long, hard season and the punishing temperatures of the eastern US in summer. Bad for the players, but good for business. That said, the shortest-priced non-European with the bookmakers is Brazilian club Flamengo at around 33-1, placed behind nine European clubs in terms of the favourites. Either way, come July 13, one would get very long odds on Infantino declaring it anything other than a huge triumph. It does not matter how many seats are empty, how tired some of the players look or whether the wealthiest European clubs dominate the final stages – or whether some flop in the US heat. Infantino has got his tournament and all else will be secondary to that.
The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Sunday's briefing: England U21s continue Euros defence as PSG begin CWC campaign
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