Club World Cup 2025: 5 non-European teams that could upset giants

Yahoo

a day ago

There are two billion-dollar questions looming over the Club World Cup, and one — will the European teams care? — seems to have an affirmative answer. They've been offered gobs of prize money, so they'll bring their A-list stars, and the tournament's other existential question will come into focus: Can the non-European teams hang with them?
It's a billion-dollar question because it cuts to the core of this billion-dollar tournament. If the champions of Asia, Africa and the Americas can compete with Real Madrid and Chelsea, then the Club World Cup is unique; it's a competition worth building; it could be compelling for decades to come.
Advertisement
But if they can't, it's just a watered-down wannabe Champions League. If the latter stages are an all-Euro affair, it serves no distinct soccer purpose.
The Club World Cup, therefore, depends on non-European contenders. Here are five that could rise to the occasion and surprise their wealthier* European counterparts.
Flamengo, top of the Brasileirāo and surging in the Libertadores, arrive at the Club World Cup as Brazil's best hope. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel/AFP)
(MAURO PIMENTEL via Getty Images)
1. Flamengo (Brazil)
The richest club and current leader of soccer's strongest non-European league, the Brasileiro, is an obvious choice to lead this list.
After a shaky start to the 2025 Copa Libertadores, the Rubro-Negro (Scarlet and Black) are flying. They've scored 12 goals in their last four games, which included a 2-0 win at Palmeiras. They have perhaps the deepest squad in South America, chock-full of experienced defenders, accomplished midfielders and dynamic attackers. Giorgian de Arrascaeta, the Uruguayan playmaker who has lit up Brazil's Série A for over a decade, is playing some of the best soccer of his career, with 13 goal contributions in just nine league appearances.
Advertisement
All of which is to say that Flamengo can absolutely trouble Chelsea in Group D, and others in the knockout stages.
2. Palmeiras (Brazil)
In a tournament of change, amid a field of teams rocked by recent instability, Palmeiras stands out for its consistency. Under the guidance of Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, O Verdão (The Big Green) have won two Copa Libertadores titles and back-to-back Brasileiros; they've accumulated the league's best Expected Goal differential (xGD) in each of the last three seasons.
As with all South American clubs that produce excellent players, they've had to sell — Endrick to Real Madrid, Vitor Reis to Manchester City, Danilo to Nottingham Forest and so on. But they've restocked their cupboard with talent from within Brazil, across the Americas and even from Europe. Although they haven't quite hit their stride yet in 2025, all the pieces are in place to win Group A and make a Club World Cup run.
Aleksandar Mitrović leads a star-studded Al Hilal squad into the Club World Cup amid sky-high spending, title pressure and a last-minute managerial shakeup. (REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)
(REUTERS / Reuters)
3. Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
*Remember that asterisk above, next to 'wealthier'? Yeah, that doesn't apply in the case of Al Hilal, which is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. The club has spent over $500 million the past two years, and built a lineup that could feature goalkeeper Yassine Bounou (Morocco, formerly Sevilla); defenders Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal, formerly Napoli and Chelsea), João Cancelo (Portugal, formerly Manchester City) and Renan Lodi (Brazil, formerly Atlético Madrid); midfielders Rúben Neves (Portugal, formerly Wolves) and Sergej Milinković-Savić (Serbia, formerly Lazio); and forwards Malcom (Brazil, formerly Bordeaux, Barcelona and Zenit) and Aleksandar Mitrović (Serbia, formerly Fulham).
Advertisement
How have they all jelled together as a team? Reasonably well, especially in their unbeaten 2023-24 season. But they stumbled occasionally in 2024-25, relinquished the Saudi title to Al Ittihad, and then sacked their manager, Jorge Jesus. To replace him, the PIF reportedly threw over $29 million per year at Inter Milan's Simone Inzaghi, who, a few days after a Champions League final stomping, and less than two weeks before the Club World Cup, will join up with the squad. Can he make his mark, or at least stabilize the club, in that brutally short window?
That's the boom-or-bust question clouding Al Hilal's hopes.
4. Al Ahly (Egypt)
Africa's most dominant modern club offers quite a contrast to Asia's (Al Hilal; see above). It does not have names that European soccer aficionados will recognize, nor boatloads of cash. But it does have an impressive track record that, crucially, extends beyond the CAF Champions League.
Advertisement
By virtue of its four continental titles in five years, Al Ahly repeatedly qualified for the former Club World Cup — the eight-team annual version now called the FIFA Intercontinental Cup — and here are its results:
2020: Beat Al-Duhail 1-0, lost to Bayern Munich 2-0, beat Palmeiras on penalties for third place
2021: Beat Monterrey 1-0, lost to Palmeiras 2-0, beat Al Hilal 4-0 for third place
2022: Beat Auckland City 3-0, beat Seattle Sounders 1-0, lost to Real Madrid 4-1
2023: Beat Al Ittihad 3-1, lost to Fluminense 2-0, beat Urawa Reds 4-2 for third place
2024: Beat Al Ain 3-0, lost to Pachuca on penalties
Advertisement
What all of that suggests is that, while Al Ahly probably can't come close to winning this new version of the Club World Cup, it can frustrate teams — including all three of its Group A opponents, Palmerias, Porto and Inter Miami. It kept clean sheets in eight of those 14 games above. It has an extensive recent history of defensive sturdiness.
There is one notable caveat: Al Ahly appointed a new head coach, Jose Riveiro, less than two weeks ago. But its 2020-24 run spanned multiple coaches. Its strength isn't rooted in one man's leadership; it is, at this point, institutional.
5. Inter Miami (United States)
Inter Miami makes this list because it has Lionel Messi. Messi can still do special things in group or knockout games, as he showed at his last FIFA tournament.
Advertisement
But there are all sorts of reasons that Inter Miami isn't equipped to excel at this tournament. Its roster, like most in MLS, is top-heavy. Its defensive, midfield and forward lines are often detached. Its back line is leaky.
So, it ranks right alongside Al Hilal in the 'high ceiling, low floor' category.