The defeat and the consequent elimination of FC Barcelona from the Champions League guaranteed the qualification of Atlético de Madrid, despite its fall also in the European tournament, for the new FIFA Club World Cup, in 2025 in the United States, since The red and white team is unattainable for the Barça team in the ranking. Xavi Hernández's team needed to at least reach the final of the tournament to be able to be in the 2025 tournament in which 50 million euros are awarded just for participating.
Diego Simeone's team is the twenty-second club to achieve its presence in the modern international competition, whose first edition will be from June 15 to July 13, 2025; It will be played every four years from then on and will be made up of 32 teams divided into eight groups of four, of which the first two will advance to the round of 16. There will be no match for third place.
From UEFA, which has twelve places in the competition, eleven teams are already classified: Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City, as champions of the three editions of the Champions League; and Bayern Munich, Paris Saint Germain, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Benfica and Juventus, in addition to Atlético, for the ranking, pending the resolution of the champion of this 2023-24 edition, which will also go directly to the World Cup.
The only club of all the candidates still with a chance to win the Champions League, in any case, is Arsenal, whose only formula to compete in the United States event in 2025 is through the title of the continental competition, once that has no options via ranking.
Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint Germain (protagonists of one of the semifinals of this Champions League), Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich (to be determined whether or not they advance to the next round this Wednesday) already have a secure place in the World Cup , so if any of the five is the champion, the door would be opened for Salzburg to qualify.
Apart from the eleven European clubs, with a limit of two per country (unless more than two from the same territory have won the continental competition of their corresponding confederation, as is the case with Brazilian teams), there are already eleven other teams from the rest of the world with a fixed place in the 2025 World Cup.
They are Palmeiras, Fluminense and Flamengo from Brazil; the Egyptian Al Ahly; Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia; Wydad Athletic of Morocco; the Japanese Urawa Reds; the Mexican Club León and Monterrey; the American Seattle Sounders and the New Zealand Auckland City.
In addition to one place from Europe (Arsenal, if they are European champions, or Salzburg), there are nine more places to be resolved: two from Asia (with four options, between Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates, the South Koreans Ulsan HD and Jeonbuk Motors and the Japanese Yokohama Marinos); two from Africa (with the possibilities of the Tunisian Espérance, the South African Mamelodi Sundowns and the Congolese Mazembe); one from Concacaf (América, Pachuca, Columbus Crew or Philadelphia Union); three from the South American CONMEBOL (at the moment River Plate and Argentine Boca Júniors would be classified, awaiting the outcome of the Copa Libertadores) and one club from the host country.
