There are two billion-dollar questions looming over the , and one — will the European groups care? — appears to have an affirmative reply. They’ve been supplied , in order that they’ll convey their A-list stars, and the match’s different existential query will come into focus: Can the non-European groups dangle with them?
It’s a billion-dollar query as a result of it cuts to the core of this billion-dollar match. If the champions of Asia, Africa and the Americas can compete with Actual Madrid and Chelsea, then the Membership World Cup is exclusive; it’s a contest value constructing; it may very well be compelling for many years to come back.
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But when they’ll’t, it’s only a watered-down wannabe Champions League. If the latter phases are an all-Euro affair, it serves no distinct soccer goal.
The Membership World Cup, due to this fact, depends upon non-European contenders. Listed here are 5 that might rise to the event and shock their wealthier* European counterparts.
Flamengo, high of the Brasileirāo and surging within the Libertadores, arrive on the Membership World Cup as Brazil’s finest hope. (Photograph by Mauro Pimentel/AFP)
(MAURO PIMENTEL by way of Getty Photos)1. Flamengo (Brazil)
The richest membership and present chief of soccer’s strongest non-European league, the Brasileiro, is an apparent alternative to guide this record.
After a shaky begin to the 2025 Copa Libertadores, the Rubro-Negro (Scarlet and Black) are flying. They’ve scored 12 targets of their final 4 video games, which included a 2-0 win at Palmeiras. They’ve maybe the deepest squad in South America, chock-full of skilled defenders, achieved midfielders and dynamic attackers. Giorgian de Arrascaeta, the Uruguayan playmaker who has lit up Brazil’s Série A for over a decade, is enjoying a few of the finest soccer of his profession, with 13 objective contributions in simply 9 league appearances.
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All of which is to say that Flamengo can completely hassle Chelsea in Group D, and others within the knockout phases.
2. Palmeiras (Brazil)
In a match of change, amid a area of groups rocked by latest instability, Palmeiras stands out for its consistency. Beneath the steering of Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, O Verdão (The Huge Inexperienced) have gained two Copa Libertadores titles and back-to-back Brasileiros; they’ve gathered the league’s in every of the final three seasons.
As with all South American golf equipment that produce wonderful gamers, they’ve needed to promote — Endrick to Actual Madrid, Vitor Reis to Manchester Metropolis, Danilo to Nottingham Forest and so forth. However they’ve restocked their cabinet with expertise from inside Brazil, throughout the Americas and even from Europe. Though they haven’t fairly hit their stride but in 2025, all of the items are in place to win Group A and make a Membership World Cup run.
Aleksandar Mitrović leads a star-studded Al Hilal squad into the Membership World Cup amid sky-high spending, title strain and a last-minute managerial shakeup. (REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)
(REUTERS / Reuters)3. Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
*Keep in mind that asterisk above, subsequent to “wealthier”? Yeah, that doesn’t apply within the case of Al Hilal, which is backed by the Saudi Public Funding Fund. The membership has spent over $500 million the previous two years, and constructed a lineup that might characteristic goalkeeper Yassine Bounou (Morocco, previously Sevilla); defenders Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal, previously Napoli and Chelsea), João Cancelo (Portugal, previously Manchester Metropolis) and Renan Lodi (Brazil, previously Atlético Madrid); midfielders Rúben Neves (Portugal, previously Wolves) and Sergej Milinković-Savić (Serbia, previously Lazio); and forwards Malcom (Brazil, previously Bordeaux, Barcelona and Zenit) and Aleksandar Mitrović (Serbia, previously Fulham).
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How have all of them jelled collectively as a crew? Moderately effectively, particularly of their unbeaten 2023-24 season. However they stumbled often in 2024-25, relinquished the Saudi title to Al Ittihad, after which sacked their supervisor, Jorge Jesus. To switch him, the PIF threw over $29 million per 12 months at Inter Milan’s Simone Inzaghi, who, a couple of days after a , and fewer than two weeks earlier than the Membership World Cup, will be a part of up with the squad. Can he make his mark, or a minimum of stabilize the membership, in that brutally brief window?
That’s the boom-or-bust query clouding Al Hilal’s hopes.
4. Al Ahly (Egypt)
Africa’s most dominant fashionable membership gives fairly a distinction to Asia’s (Al Hilal; see above). It doesn’t have names that European soccer aficionados will acknowledge, nor boatloads of money. But it surely does have a formidable monitor report that, crucially, extends past the CAF Champions League.
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By advantage of its 4 continental titles in 5 years, Al Ahly repeatedly certified for the previous Membership World Cup — the eight-team annual model now referred to as the FIFA Intercontinental Cup — and listed here are its outcomes:
2020: Beat Al-Duhail 1-0, misplaced to Bayern Munich 2-0, beat Palmeiras on penalties for third place
2021: Beat Monterrey 1-0, misplaced to Palmeiras 2-0, beat Al Hilal 4-0 for third place
2022: Beat Auckland Metropolis 3-0, beat Seattle Sounders 1-0, misplaced to Actual Madrid 4-1
2023: Beat Al Ittihad 3-1, misplaced to Fluminense 2-0, beat Urawa Reds 4-2 for third place
2024: Beat Al Ain 3-0, misplaced to Pachuca on penalties
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What all of that implies is that, whereas Al Ahly in all probability can’t come near profitable this new model of the Membership World Cup, it will probably frustrate groups — together with all three of its Group A opponents, Palmerias, Porto and Inter Miami. It saved clear sheets in eight of these 14 video games above. It has an intensive latest historical past of defensive sturdiness.
There’s one notable caveat: Al Ahly appointed a brand new head coach, Jose Riveiro, lower than two weeks in the past. However its 2020-24 run spanned a number of coaches. Its power isn’t rooted in a single man’s management; it’s, at this level, institutional.
5. Inter Miami (United States)
Inter Miami makes this record as a result of it has Lionel Messi. Messi can nonetheless do particular issues in group or knockout video games, as he .
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However there are all kinds of causes that Inter Miami isn’t geared up to excel at this match. Its roster, . Its defensive, midfield and ahead traces are sometimes indifferent. Its again line is leaky.
So, it ranks proper alongside Al Hilal within the “excessive ceiling, low ground” class.
