by Defender Jordi Alba said the 2025 Club World Cup won’t be easy for Inter Miami CF as the Major League Soccer team plans to compete against several European giants and “elites.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced Inter Miami as the competition’s final MLS entrant after being selected by the organization to win the 2024 Supporters’ Shield.
Inter Miami now joins a list of competitors that also includes Manchester City (2022-23 Champions League winners) and Real Madrid (2021-22 and 2023-24 Champions League winners).
“The Club World Cup is important for Inter Miami. In general, I think it’s important to play against these types of teams,” he said on Friday.
Inter Miami will host the opening match of the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium on July 15, 2025 against an undetermined opponent. The expanded 32-club event will be played at 12 stadiums across the United States from June 15 to July 13, 2025.
“Luckily we have [former Barcelona players Alba, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suárez] “I’ve played against them before, but practically the entire team hasn’t had the opportunity to play against these types of players, these teams,” Alba said. “It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be difficult. “But I think it’s a great achievement to be there, to compete at our best as always and to see how far we can go.”
Inter Miami head coach Gerardo Martino stressed that the team feels a great privilege to have been selected to take part and then warned about the elite competitors taking part in the tournament.
“When it was said a few weeks ago that we, as the best team of the regular season, could receive this award, or rather be considered for participation in the Club World Cup, we are reassured by the fact that the merit lies on the sporting side. ” he said.
“We always try to compete in the best possible way. The elite is the elite and the rest is the rest,” he said. “And there is a reason why they are always the same in the elite group, even when those in the elite fight against those in the elite.
“Still, I think it’s a first step and that the league will probably have to look at in the future, perhaps in the near future, how it allows MLS clubs to train for the Club World Cup from now on.” She can compete better.”
The 2025 Club World Cup will feature 32 clubs from around the world for the first time after FIFA decided to expand the tournament from the previous seven-team format. FIFA awarded twelve places to Europe (UEFA), six to South America (CONMEBOL), four each to North America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), Asia (AFC) and Africa (CAF) and one to Oceania (OFC).
Most of the teams have already been decided, with only one CONMEBOL ticket left for the winner of the Copa Libertadores 2024.
