FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ still belongs to Europe and South America

Flamengo and Jorginho show their strength at the FIFA Club World Cup.

After the first three days of competition, the 9-4 aggregate score of South American clubs compared to the rest of world football shows that representatives from Brazil or Argentina are still showing their inherent strength. Even when facing the big teams from Europe, South American clubs are still playing very well.

Level difference

The first results show that the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, despite being expanded to 32 teams, is still dominated by teams from Europe and South America. The participation of teams from other continents brings diversity, but the results and performances show that they are still far behind their European and South American counterparts.

Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Palmeiras, Botafogo, and Flamengo all put in outstanding performances. Bayern Munich easily beat Auckland City 10-0, while Chelsea beat hosts LAFC 2-0.

South American teams such as Botafogo (Brazil) beat Seattle Sounders 2-1, Flamengo (Brazil) beat African representative, Esperance de Tunis 2-0, River Plate (Argentina) defeated Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) 3-1.

Matches between European and South American teams, such as Palmeiras' 0-0 draw with FC Porto and Boca Juniors' 2-2 draw with Benfica, showed balance at the highest level. The two European teams that caused major disappointment were Inter Milan (1-1 draw with Monterrey) and Dortmund (0-0 draw with Fluminense). However, their opponents, Monterrey (Mexico) and Fluminense (Brazil), both put in commendable performances.

Fluminense are another South American representative to impress in the first round of the FIFA Club World Cup.

In fact, except for Bayern and PSG, both Inter Milan and Dortmund are not rated too highly in this tournament. Their inconsistent performance in the first round of matches is expected. The other two top candidates of Europe, Manchester City and Real Madrid, have not played yet.

Therefore, European clubs are still the top candidates in this year's tournament. If Manchester City and Real Madrid play to their potential, it will be very difficult for teams from other continents to stop them.

Meanwhile, South American clubs showed remarkable strength when facing teams in Africa or Asia. Botafogo beat host Seattle Sounders 2-1, Flamengo easily overcame Esperance de Tunis 2-0, while River Plate crushed Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) 3-1.

The rest is hard to compete with.

The fact that Auckland City (New Zealand) was defeated by Bayern, or Esperance de Tunis and Urawa Red Diamonds lost to Brazilian and Argentine teams, shows the huge difference in level between club football in Asia and Africa and South America or Europe.

They are unlikely to make a difference in this tournament. Looking at the overall results after the first three days of play, the North American teams (Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders, LAFC, Monterrey) have 2 draws and 2 losses.

African teams (Al Ahly, Espérance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns) have 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss. The first two Asian teams (Urawa Red Diamonds, Ulsan Hyundai) have already started the tournament, and lost both matches.

The only representative from Oceania (Auckland City) lost 0-10 to Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, teams from Europe and South America are unbeaten. European clubs have 2 wins and 4 draws, while representatives from South America have 2 wins and 3 draws.