Twelve starting places Club competition expanded to 32 teams go to Europe. The country contingents are limited to two tickets, only Arsenal’s title in the Champions League would have given England a third place in the club World Cup.
The game will be played from June 15th to July 13th, 2025 in the previously known format of the Men’s World Cup with eight groups of four.
Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City are the CL winners of the last three years. Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, FC Porto, Benfica Lisbon, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus Turin have also secured their tickets via the European Cup standings since 2020.
The second Spanish team is Atletico Madrid, which benefited from FC Barcelona’s elimination from the Champions League on Tuesday despite their own defeat against BVB. And Salzburg as the “best of the rest” in the European Cup.
The remaining 20 Club World Cup participants are represented by other continental associations.
In addition to Salzburg, these 23 clubs have already qualified:
- Al Ahly (Egypt) – 2020/21 and 2022/23 CAF Champions League
- Wydad (Marokko) – 2021/22 CAF Champions League
- Al Hilal (Saudi-Arabien) – 2021 AFC Champions League
- Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) – 2022 AFC Champions League
- Chelsea (England) – 2020/21 UEFA Champions League
- Real Madrid (Spain) – 2021/22 UEFA Champions League
- Manchester City (England) – 2022/23 UEFA Champions League
- Bayern Munich (Germany) – UEFA ranking path
- Paris Saint Germain (France) – UEFA ranking path
- Inter Milan (Italy) – UEFA ranking path
- FC Porto (Portugal) – UEFA ranking path
- Benfica Lissabon (Portugal) – UEFA ranking path
- Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – UEFA ranking path
- Juventus Turin (Italy) – UEFA ranking path
- Atletico Madrid (Spanien) – UEFA ranking path
- Monterrey (Mexico) – 2021 CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Seattle Sounders (USA) – 2022 CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Club Leon (Mexiko) – 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Auckland City (New Zealand) – OFC ranking path
- Ulsan HD FC (Korea) – AFC ranking path
- Palmeiras (Brazil) – 2021 CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores
- Flamengo (Brazil) – 2022 CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores
- Fluminense (Brazil) – 2023 CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores
“Great joy for Salzburg”
“It is a great pleasure that our Salzburg path has now taken us to the Club World Cup and that we will be able to compete with the world’s best club teams of recent years in the summer of 2025,” said Salzburg’s managing director Stephan Reiter.
Consistently good performances in recent years in the premier class, as a result of the championship title in the Bundesliga, would have opened the door to this. “I think that this participation is not only a great honor for FC Red Bull Salzburg, but also represents recognition for the entire Austrian club football, which has steadily developed in recent years.”
50 million for Salzburg as entry fee
FIFA’s entry bonus for the new mega tournament alone is said to be in the region of 50 million euros for each team. That would be more than an annual budget for all other clubs in the domestic Bundesliga.
Is Salzburg worth a vacation?
A lot will change in 2025 in preparation for the season. Advanced training runs normally from June 15th to July 13th for the season that started at the end of July.
Salzburg must decide whether to allow the players to take a short vacation before the start of the season in Austria. Then the first games would have to be played with a B team.
Or will the vacation fall flat? Then the risk of injury usually increases massively over the course of the autumn season.
“We don’t know all the details about this tournament yet, but we already know that There will be some major challenges arising from participation“such as a completely different preparation for the season or a lot of additional trips and games,” said Reiter.
All of this will be dealt with in the usual professional manner and with great enthusiasm.