Club World Cup Beckons for Manchester City and Chelsea

The United States will be the scene for a revamped Club World Cup which will begin this weekend and culminate with a title match on July 13th. The group play format resembles past international World Cups (before planned 2026 changes) and that of the Champions League before this latter competition changed to an abominable “table” format this past year.

Thirty-two clubs, including Manchester City and Chelsea from the Premier League, will be competing in this summer’s tournament. Unlike more typical summer friendlies played in the US, the stakes here are high in financial terms. The winner of the Club World Cup could rake in as much as $125 million. The stakes are such that contenders are fielding their best lineups despite the competition coming on the heels of grueling domestic league and cup campaigns.

There will be some powerful clubs battling in this summer’s heat. Champions League winner PSG heads a field which will compete first in eight groups of four, the top two advancing to the knockout rounds. Real Madrid is also one of the favorites and will have recently departed Liverpool man Trent Alexander-Arnold available for duty. German giant Bayern Munich will be there along with Borussia Dortmund from the Bundesliga.

While the Premier League will be represented by two of its top four finishers from this past season, one might rightly ask, “ What happened to Liverpool?” The Premier League champion, despite the loss of Alexander-Arnold, has strengthened in recent weeks with the addition of Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Jeremie Frimpong and more recently coming to terms for his teammate Florian Wirtz, though only Frimpong would have been eligible for the Club World Cup. Liverpool, however, is not invited to this summer’s get together. A largely opaque selection process supposedly considers performance over the past four years but has resulted in several head scratching omissions. In addition to Premier League champion Liverpool, the cockamamie selection process has also excluded Barcelona and Napoli, the champions of La Liga and Serie A, respectively. Meanwhile, Barcelona legend Lionel Messi will be competing for Inter Miami, a team dubiously selected most likely for its star player’s appeal to the ticket purchasing public.

The tournament has not generated the ticket sales initially expected, which is worrying to soccer authorities as the World Cup will be played in the US next summer. Premier League sides Manchester City and Chelsea will do nothing but help those attendance figures. Both sides, particularly Manchester City, have large fan bases in the United States and, unlike summer friendlies, the stars should be out and playing significant minutes in these matches. The Citizens are third favorite, behind PSG and Real Madrid, in the betting odds to take the title this summer.

In the run up to this tournament, a special transfer window was opened for clubs to secure some new weapons for the competition and Manchester City wasted no time in stocking up. Defender Ryan Ait-Nouri was signed away from Wolverhampton. Rayan Cherki (Lyon) and Tijjani Reijnders (AC Milan) were added to a Manchester City midfield which has said goodbye to Kevin De Bruyne. Jack Grealish, meanwhile, is a notable omission from the Club World Cup roster and may be on his way out of the club. Chelsea supporters, meanwhile, will get their first look at new striker Liam Delap in a blue shirt. The 22-year-old was acquired after scoring 12 goals for Ipswich Town in the Premier league last season. The brazen young striker has elected to wear the Number 9 shirt for the Blues. Midfielder Dario Essugo, meanwhile, has joined from Portuguese side Sporting. That has resulted in some unfortunate news for another Portuguese midfielder on the Chelsea payroll. Essugo will strip the number 14 jersey from Joao Felix who was on loan at AC Milan for the latter half of last season and is now in limbo. Chelsea’s defense, meanwhile, will be bolstered by the addition of Mamadou Sarr from French side Strasbourg. Manchester City and Chelsea should both advance easily enough as one of the two top teams in their individual groups. Manchester City will be wary of Juventus, the historic Italian side which defeated the Citizens in Champions League play in December. There is a steep fall in quality then, however, to the other group members, Wydad AC (Morocco) and Al Ain (United Arab Emirates). Chelsea will have traditional Brazilian power Flamengo in its group but should feel little threat from Tunisian side Esperance de Tunis and MLS’s LAFC. The Los Angeles team has former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Loris performing their swan songs in the US league.

While tournament matches begin on Saturday, the Premier League sides first take to the pitch when Chelsea faces LAFC in Atlanta on Monday followed by Manchester City’s opener on Wednesday in Philadelphia versus Wydad AC.