Premier League champions Manchester City were drawn on Thursday with Juventus, Wydad AC and Al Ain in Group G for next year's FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
Lionel Messi and Major League Soccer's Inter Miami are in Group A and will face Al Ahly in the opening match of the expanded 32-team tournament before games against Porto and Palmeiras.
2025 Club World Cup groups
Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi and defender Jordi Alba represented the Supporters' Shield winners on the 2024 MLS Best XI announced Tuesday.
The Leagues Cup champion Columbus Crew also had two selections with forward Cucho Hernandez and MLS Defender of the Year Steven Moreira.
MLS Best XI 2024
Following are the 32 teams that have qualified for the expanded 2025 Club World Cup to be held in the United States from June 15 to July 13.
Apart from the winners of each confederation's premier club competitions, teams also qualified based on their ranking that was calculated based on their performances over a four-year period.
UEFA (12 TEAMS)
Chelsea: 2020-21 Champions League winners
Real Madrid: 2021-22 and 2023-24 Champions League winners
FIFA is showing their appreciation for Messi on Thanksgiving.
Lionel Messi made headlines on Thanksgiving Day after making the nominee list for FIFA’s The Best Award, honoring the players with the best individual performances in the past year.
The 37-year-old made the list as the only player currently outside of Europe, with the rest of the nominees playing inside of Europe’s top-five leagues. Toni Kroos (who retired at the end of the 2024 European Championship) is the only exception.
Inter Miami CF named Javier Mascherano as their new head coach on Tuesday, replacing Gerardo "Tata" Martino.
Mascherano, 40, reunites with longtime Argentina and FC Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi and is under contract through the 2027 MLS season.
Mascherano Inter Miami hire
Miami is the new Barcelona.
Javier Mascherano to become Inter Miami new manager for 2025 MLS Season
Former FC Barcelona and Argentine national team player, Javier Mascherano, is to become Inter Miami’s new head coach for the 2025 MLS Season. He is set to sign a long-term contract with the MLS club.
Lionel Messi wants to return to Barcelona. The city, that is.
In an interview with FC Barcelona, the club’s all-time goalscorer and greatest player of all time, Lionel Messi, joined the blaugrana’s for a quick chat, taking a listen and judging the three finalist songs of the club’s 125th anniversary.
FC Cincinnati acquired striker Kevin Denkey on Thursday for a reported MLS record transfer fee of $16.2 million.
That would break the MLS record of $16 million that Atlanta United paid for Thiago Almada in February 2022.
Kevin Denkey breaks MLS record transfer fee
Following a record-breaking season with the Columbus Crew, Wilfried Nancy was rewarded with 2024 MLS Coach of the Year honors on Wednesday.
Nancy, a finalist for the award for the last three seasons, won the award over Chris Armas of the Colorado Rapids and Gerardo "Tata" Martino of Inter Miami.
Nancy was hired by Columbus in December 2022 after two seasons at the helm of CF Montreal, where he finished 37-25-15. With Columbus, Nancy is 51-19-24.
Wilfried Nancy MLS Coach of the Year
Former USMNT goalkeeper, Brad Guzan, had an amazing performance in Atlanta United’s unreal away victory against Inter Miami, being perhaps the main reason why we’ll see Atlanta in the next round.
The 40-year-old had a staggering seven saves against Lionel Messi and co., with the American’s performance making its way around social media.