Atletico Madrid have earned a place in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, beating Barcelona to it, based on UEFA performance rankings from the last four seasons. Barca needed to go further than Atleti in the Champions League in order to secure a spot, but both Spanish teams were eliminated last night. Atletico lost 4:2 away to Borussia Dortmund while the Catalan giants suffering a heavy 1:4 defeat at the hands of PSG.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 — Officially:
Atletico Madrid qualifies for the 2025 Club World Cup. ✅
Barcelona will not participate in the 2025 Club World Cup. ❌ pic.twitter.com/ESxL1CDowW
— Football World ⚽ (@xFootballWorld_) April 17, 2024
The qualification will allow Atletico Madrid to receive a significant revenue from next year’s tournament, something that Barcelona desperatele needs. Diego Simeone’s side became the 11th European club to guarantee its participation, with only 1 place remaining up for grabs, which will go to either Arsenal or Red Bull Salzburg. The teams already qualified are: Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, and lastly Atletico Madrid.
The 2025 Fifa Club World Cup will take place in the USA, with 32 participating teams. They will be distributed across 8 groups, copying the format used at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the only difference being the lack of a thrid-place playoff game.