Club World Cup draw LIVE: Chelsea, Man City and more find out group opponents

Chinese consumer electronics company Hisense will have “branding that will appear in the video operations room and on pitchside screens,” Fifa said in a statement, as match officials look into key incidents at the 32-team tournament, which will be played on 11 American cities from June 15 to July. 13.

While no previous Fifa tournament has had a video review sponsor since the technology was approved ahead of the 2018 Men’s World Cup in Russia, Hisense was the official “OUR Screen Provider” for this year’s European Championship organized by UEFA in Germany.

Fifa did not specify the value of the contract concluded with Infantina at the signing ceremony in Shanghai.

Reviews of referees’ decisions in key incidents — for goals, penalties and red cards — can be extended to at least two minutes, despite Fifa’s goal during the 2016 trial to have reviews completed in around 10 seconds.

Hisense first signed up as a sponsor of FIFA for the 2018 World Cup and has renewed it for the 2022 edition in Qatar.

So here are the rules for the upcoming draw, with them being somewhat similar to those used in the game real World Cup.

There will be one or a maximum of two Uefa clubs in each group, and no other confederation will have more than one team per group.

Also, UEFA teams from the same country cannot be together – so no Man City vs Chelsea in the group stage, for example.

When we get to the knockouts, it’s winners A, C, E and G paired with runners-up B, D, F and H. Obviously the reverse is true for the other side of the draw.

That, plus the seedings, means that UEFA and CONMEBOL teams ranked 1-2 and 3-4 cannot meet until the semi-finals if they win their groups.

We will also have Uefa teams ranked 5-8, with Conmebol’s 1-4, and Uefa’s 9-12 will be in the same group as those at 1-4.

It’s probably worth detailing where the other games will be played as well. FIFA has confirmed that 12 stadiums in 11 cities across the US will be used for the competition:

• Rose Bowl, California
• MetLife Stadium, New Jersey
• Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina
• Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
• Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Lumen Field, Seattle
• Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens
• Camping World Stadium, Orlando
• Inter & Co Stadium, Orlando
• Geodis Park, Nashville, Tennessee
• TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Audi Field, Washington DC

Here is the schedule (more or less) for the tournament itself:

The group stage runs from June 15th and should last around two weeks – we don’t have exact dates yet.

There are eight groups of four, with the first two going into the knockout stages, and the last 16 starting at the end of June/early July, and then, of course, the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

And finally, the final itself is on July 13, 2025, to be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Streaming platform DAZN has negotiated a worldwide broadcast deal Fifais controversial World Club Championship free to air.

Club sources have previously expressed frustration and concern over Fifa’s failure so far to sell the rights to next summer’s tournament in the United States, which was the catalyst for legal action against the world governing body. from the players’ union and domestic leagues over his schedule.

Reports in recent months have suggested that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) could buy a US$1bn (£787.6m) stake in DAZN. The platform has secured deals in the past year to show the Saudi Pro League in some European territories, including the UK, as well as boxing matches in the Riyadh season and the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

Separately, Reuters cited reports saying the deal was worth $1 billion and was just for this edition of the revamped tournament.

Let’s take a full look at all the teams involved:

Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Dortmund, Inter Milan, Benfica, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Red Bull Salzburg

Flamengo, Palmeiras, Fluminense, Botafogo, River Plate, Boca Juniors

Ah Ahly, Wydad AC, Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns

Al Hilal, Ulsan HD, Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain

Monterrey, Leon, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Inter Miami

So we have 32 clubs, two of which are from the Premier League.

Manchester City and Chelsea have bigger things to think about this week – midweek action in which they both won, then big games immediately following at the weekend – but they are this summer’s representatives who face a month of competitive action after 2024/ 25. ends.

Such is the price of success – they are there as a result of winning the Champions League recently.

Good evening and welcome to The Independent’s Club World Cup coverage. As well as the competition itself, we have expanded significantly: from just covering the final to doing the draw in its entirety, as Fifa decided that 32 clubs must be involved and the competition should last a month.

Here we are, six months and more before it kicks off, with pomp and ceremony and wholehearted anticipation of whether your favorite former continental champions will take on Porto, Ulsan or Al-Hilal.