 "Club World Cup 2025: Why Messi's Inter Miami, not MLS Cup champions LA Galaxy, was chosen for the tournament")
The revamped FIFA Club World Cup in 2025 will have 32 teams. 31 of them have been selected on merit while one team has been given direct entry into the expanded tournament which will be played from 14 June to 13 July in the United States. The 32 teams in the 2025 tournament will include some of the best clubs from all the continents including champions of the six confederations AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA.
In addition to continental title winners over the last four seasons, other teams qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 based on FIFA’s club ranking system. Each continent was allocated a specific number of slots, and clubs were selected according to these criteria to ensure balanced representation
Europe has been handed the highest number of slots – 12 – while South America has six. Asia, North America, and Africa have four spots each, while one team will be from Oceania and one spot has been reserved for the host country.
The one team that qualified for the Club World Cup 2025 due to being from the host country and not through sporting merit is Inter Miami. This is not a surprise because every Club World Cup always had one team that didn’t qualify via sporting merit, but Inter Miami’s selection is controversial.
What makes Inter Miami’s selection for Club World Cup controversial?
The fact that Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami are not even the domestic champions. The Major League Soccer (MLS) champions are LA Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup just two days back after beating New York Red Bulls.
Messi’s Inter Miami were knocked out from the first round of MLS Playoffs by Atlanta United in November and could not lay their hands on the MLS Cup. Yet FIFA has decided to invite the David Beckham co-owned club to the Club World Cup and not his former club LA Galaxy.
Miami were awarded the Club World Cup spot after they won the MLS Supporters Shield , a prize for the club with the best regular season in MLS. In their 34-match campaign, Inter Miami broke the all-time MLS record for the most points in a single season, winning 74 points in the 2024 season.
“You have shown that in the United States, you are consistently the best club on the field of play,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said.
“Therefore, I am proud to announce that as one of the best clubs in the world, you are deserved participants in the new FIFA Club World Cup 2025.”
The Messi influence
One of the biggest reasons Inter Miami has been picked over LA Galaxy despite not being MLS champions is because they have Messi in their squad. FIFA is hoping for a grand opening to the Club World Cup with Messi’s appearance as Inter Miami will be opening the tournament with a match against Egypt’s Al Ahly FC at Hard Rock Stadium at their home stadium on 14 June.
With Messi’s’ presence, FIFA is hoping to attract the highest viewership they can and expensive media deals. This has already been proven by Messi helping the club register record viewership in MLS .
Besides Messi, the Miami team also included big names like Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez.
Inter Miami have been drawn in Group A of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 alongside Palmeiras (Brazil), FC Porto (Portugal), and Al Ahly FC (Egypt).
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