FIFA President Gianni Infantino (Picture Credit: AFP)
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will have a total of 63 matches which will be played across 12 venues.
FIFA has unveiled the names of the stadiums that will host the new-look Club World Cup in 2025. The United States of America have the hosting rights for the global competition where 32 teams will be fighting for the silverware. The tournament is scheduled to kick off on June 15 next year while the final will be played on July 13.
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will have a total of 63 matches which will be played across 12 venues. FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced the stadium line-up at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park, New York on Sunday, September 29.
“A new era for club football will kick off when FIFA stages the greatest, most inclusive and merit-based global club competition right here in the United States. The Club World Cup 2025 will feature 12 fantastic stadiums where a new chapter in football’s global history will be written by great players from the 32 best clubs in the world,” Gianni Infantino said.
The majority of these stadiums are situated on the East Coast. Only two venues on the West Coast– the Rose Bowl in Pasadena near Los Angeles and Lumen Field in Seattle– will witness action during the Club World Cup. When the showpiece tournament will be taking place, several stadiums on the West Coast will be hosting the regional CONCACAF Gold matches.
The 2025 Club World Cup final will be played at the MetLife Stadium– an open-air venue where the next edition of the FIFA World Cup final will be held in 2026. The ground with a capacity of 82,500 had earlier played host to the 2016 Copa America final where Chile beat Argentina via a penalty shootout.
Audi Field in Washington D.C. is the smallest stadium to have acquired the hosting rights for the 2025 Club World Cup. This is the home ground of the Major League Soccer (MLS) side, DC United, and can accommodate 20,000 spectators. Three other MLS stadiums– TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, Geodis Park in Nashville and Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando– are in the line-up.
As many as six NFL venues, including the MetLife Stadium, have been chosen by FIFA. The Rose Bowl in California is the largest on the list. The former Olympic stadium will have a capacity of 88,500. The other stadiums where the 2025 Club World Cup will be played are Bank of America Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, Camping World Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field and Lumen Field.
Manchester City are the reigning champions of the FIFA Club World Cup. The Premier League giants had triumphed over Fluminense by a margin of 4-0 in the final of the last edition in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.