New Jersey gets final as Fifa unveil Club World Cup venues

The first edition of the expanded 32-club tournament will kick off on June 15, 2025

Manchester City won the last edition of the Fifa Club World Cup, beating Brazil's Fluminense 4-0 in the final at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 22, 2023. Getty

The final of next year's expanded Club World Cup will be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the same venue that will also host the final of the 2026 World Cup.

The first edition of the expanded 32-club tournament will kick off on June 15 and conclude at MetLife on July 13.

A total of 12 venues will be used for the tournament with only two of them on the West Coast – the Rose Bowl in Pasadena near Los Angeles and Lumen Field in Seattle.

The tournament is taking place at the same time as the regional Concacaf Gold Cup, which will be held mainly on the West Coast.

The other venues that will host games are: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), TQL Stadium (Cincinnati), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), GEODIS Park (Nashville), Camping World Stadium (Orlando), Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia) and Audi Field (Washington, DC).

The draw for the tournament will be held in December; 30 of the 32 places have already been secured through the qualification procedure.

The Club World Cup will feature title-winning teams from each of Fifa's continental confederations.

Al Ain secured one of the four spots allocated for Asia by dint of winning the 2024 Asian Champions League following a 6-3 aggregate victory over Yokohama F Marinos in May.

Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, the continent's most successful club with four Asian Champions League titles, will also take part in the expanded tournament alongside Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds and Ulsan of South Korea.

Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are among the 12 European teams who have qualified for the tournament while Argentina's River Plate and Boca Juniors and Brazil's Flamengo are among six South American teams.

"This new Fifa competition is the only true example in worldwide club football of real solidarity and inclusivity, allowing the best clubs from Africa, Asia, Central and North America and Oceania to play the powerhouses of Europe and South America in an incredible new World Cup which will impact enormously the growth of club football and talent globally," said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Infantino announced the venues on stage at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York.

Fifa also announced a four-year partnership with Global Citizen to support their anti-poverty initiatives. As part of the agreement Global Citizen will produce the half-time show at the 2026 World Cup final.

Key test

The tournament will be viewed as a key test ahead of the 2026 World Cup itself and there will be a focus on security issues after crowd problems at July's Copa America games at the stadiums in Charlotte and Miami.

Fifa has yet to announce any broadcast deals or sponsorship contracts for the tournament and the competition has faced some opposition within the game.

Although all that assumes it will go ahead at all. A players’ strike over the volume of matches they are now asked to play and players’ unions and domestic leagues have brought legal cases against Fifa, claiming a lack of consultation on the scheduling of the new tournament.

The last version of the Club World Cup featured seven teams in a knockout format and was won by Manchester City who beat Brazil's Fluminense in the final in Saudi Arabia.

Fifa plan to hold the expanded tournament every four years although no host as yet to be chosen for the 2029 edition.