Bayern Munich qualify for gigantic Club World Cup

FC Bayern Munich are among the twelve European starters at the new Club World Cup 2025, while Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig will battle it out in the knockout phase of the top flight for the second Bundesliga spot for the 63-match tournament in the USA. There will be no real summer break. Criticism is inevitable.

The professionals of FC Bayern Munich are facing another exhausting summer of soccer in 2025. As FIFA announced on Sunday after the meeting of its Council in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the German record champions have already qualified for the premiere of the new Club World Cup. The tournament is to be held in the USA from June 15 to July 13, with 63 games in total and seven games for the finalists. Twelve of the 32 teams from Europe will take part in the new format. In addition to Bayern, the Champions League winners from 2021 to 2023, Chelsea FC, Real Madrid and Manchester City, have already qualified.

Due to their good results in the most important European Cup in recent years, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, FC Porto and Benfica Lisbon have also secured the right to compete alongside Munich. Four other European teams can still qualify - the winner of the current season in the top flight gets a ticket and three clubs enter via a four-year ranking. This only takes into account the Champions League results from the 2020/2021 to 2023/2024 seasons. The other European competitions are not included in the ranking.

BVB and Leipzig battle it out for second place for Germany

A maximum of two clubs from one country can qualify for the tournament. This rule is only overridden if more than two clubs from one league win the Champions League. From a German perspective, there will therefore be a duel between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in the knockout phase of the competition. Both have qualified for the round of 16 of the top flight and therefore still have a chance of winning the place that will go to the Bundesliga. BVB is currently leading with six points. Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. A place in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final each earns one bonus point.

In Spain, there is a duel between Atlético Madrid and Barcelona, who could miss out on the Club World Cup due to their poor performance last year. SSC Napoli can only qualify for Italy if they reach the quarter-finals of the top flight this season. They are currently six points behind Juventus, who are not playing in the Champions League this season. The last place could go to the Austrian artificial product RB Salzburg.

The summer of 2025 will be brutal

The soccer summer of 2025 will therefore be particularly intense for the national team players. After the Bundesliga final (May 17), the cup final (May 24) and the Champions League final on May 31 in Munich, there will be an international match window with possible World Cup qualifiers or the Nations League final between June 2 and 10. Five days later, the Club World Cup begins overseas.

Discussions about the workload of the top players are inevitable. The summer break before the World Cup season is shortened to around a month for the best clubs before the following World Cup season. However, the top clubs have agreed to the new FIFA format and are involved in marketing through their association, the European Club Association (ECA).

In another new competition, the annual Champions League winner from Europe will play against the winner of a qualifying tournament involving the other continental champions. The final match for this Intercontinental Cup will take place for the first time on December 18, 2024.

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The triumphant FC Bayern Munich, victors in the Club World Cup qualification, will represent Europe in the inaugural Club World Cup 2025, joining champions from various soccer leagues across the globe. With FC Bayern Munich already secure in the tournament, the German Soccer League's top two teams, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, will compete for the opportunity to join them in the USA.

Source: www.ntv.de