Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid have already qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup, which the USA is set to host from June 14 to July 13, 2025. Even the recent two finalists of the Champions League, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain FC, have secured their tickets to the tournament.
However, the concern lies with FC Barcelona, who have not qualified for the Club World Cup. Barcelona and Arsenal, the other two semi-finalists of the 2025 Champions League, will not participate in the said tournament.
According to FIFA’s rules and regulations, the winners of the continental championships from the 2021-2024 seasons can directly enter the 2025 Club World Cup. Consequently, Chelsea (UCL 2021 champions), Manchester City FC (UCL 2023 champions), and Real Madrid (UCL 2022 and 2024 champions) have directly qualified for the tournament.
Only twelve teams from Europe can qualify. With these three teams already in, the remaining nine are selected based on their rankings over the last four seasons. Additionally, only two teams from each country can participate.
In that case, Atlético has taken the second spot from Spain. Barcelona failed to perform consistently in the previous four seasons of the Champions League, and Atlético, with a much higher rank, claimed the spot. Even if Barcelona had won the Champions League title, they still would not have qualified. The same applies to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
Without Barcelona, the scenario may look a little different and complicated, but it is actually quite simple. In a nutshell, Diego Simeone’s Atlético de Madrid reached the quarter-finals of the UCL in both 2022 and 2023. Barcelona only managed to reach the quarter-finals in 2024.
In the other seasons, Barça either lost in the group stage or the round of sixteen. Thus, Atlético de Madrid has been ranked sixth, clearly ahead of Barcelona, based on their performance over the last four seasons. Antoine Griezmann, Julián Álvarez, Jan Oblak, and Conor Gallagher have performed tremendously for the club’s success in recent domestic competitions.
Atlético is scheduled to play their first group stage match of the Club World Cup on June 15 against Bayern Munich in Cincinnati. This is definitely going to be one of the most exciting matches in the fixture. Although the present Champions League semi-finalist and Copa del Rey champion is out of the tournament, their performance in the 2024-25 season remains positive.
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