FIFA Club World Cup 15-06-2025

The World Cup starts on Sunday night. No, not the World Cup for national teams, but the World Cup for club teams. Yep, you read that right. The tournament that has been going on since 2000, without anyone really getting attached to it, has now come in a new format. FIFA apparently thought that was exactly what we needed. I'm not sure. And I think the players are too.

FIFA Club World Cup – the tournament no one missed

Because after a long and intense season, the players of the 32 best teams in the world will play a tournament that lasts four weeks. Not optimal. And are the 32 best teams in the world actually participating? Far from it. Each association has been allocated places according to how high they are ranked. So Europe is fielding 12 teams, while South America has been given six places, and Oceania one place, among others.

But still, there are some surprises here. For example, FIFA managed to get Inter Miami included, even though it was LA Galaxy who won the MLS Cup last year. And the greatest football profile of all time happens to play for Inter Miami. Coincidentally?

Now I may sound skeptical. But I am skeptical. And obviously the spectators are too. Because out of 65,000 seats at Hard Rock Stadium, only 20,000 tickets have been sold for the opening match between Inter Miami and Al Alhy. And if people are skeptical about seeing Messi and Inter Miami, one wonders how many will buy tickets to see Wydad against Al Ain.

Get rich, or die trying

So what's the motivation? Money, of course. $1 billion is in the pot, and although more than half has already been distributed to the teams just for participating, based on a distribution key FIFA calls "Sporting and commercial criteria", ergo; how popular you are, there is hope for everyone. You get $2m for winning and $1m for drawing in the group stage, $7.5m for advancing from the group, $13.1m for reaching the quarter-finals, $21m for reaching the semi-finals and $30m for reaching the final. And another $40m for winning the final. So no one is going to go home hungry.

But if you're going over, remember to bring sunscreen. FIFA has chosen to move the tournament to the hottest month of the year in the United States. Another example of how the players' well-being has never been a consideration for the high-ranking officials at FIFA. It's so bad that the players' union has taken the matter to task. Some of these players could now risk playing football continuously, without a break, for three years. Because between their respective leagues, they could potentially have participated in Euro 2024, in addition to the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 and the FIFA World Cup 2026.

So what can we get out of this?

But of course; we are no more principled than that we will probably sacrifice a few minutes. And as oddsmakers we can easily get some goodies if teams like PSG, Manchester City and Real Madrid come across the Atlantic with the same attitude as me. Then the smaller teams can quickly bite off a good chunk.

Because is it possible that Flamengo will win the group ahead of a tired Chelsea at odds of 3.25? Or that River Plate will grab 1st place in their group ahead of an Inter Milan that is still licking its wounds? That bet is also rewarded with odds of 3.25. And Inter Miami is at home. Is it possible that the aging stars will make it to the quarter-finals? In that case, you will get 4.33 times the money. We don't know. And we shouldn't put too much into these long bets. Because we simply don't know what the big teams are up to. Or what mental state the players are in. But what is certain is that our writers will follow. And we will share both odds tips and analysis from all four weeks the tournament is running.

Bayern Munich - Auckland City

But let's sneak in a betting tip right at the end. Then you haven't read all the way down here in vain. Because Bayern Munich is now one of the best teams in the world. And of all 32 teams in this year's FIFA Club World Cup, Auckland is ranked last. So here there is a good chance that there will be an overrun, regardless of mental and physical health.

But the bookmakers are of course aware of this. You barely get odds on a victory for the Germans, and you have to go all the way up to 5.5 goals to find playable odds. So that's clearly not where the value lies. But the Germans want creative, fast and breakthrough-hungry players on the pitch, even if the front row is rested.

It's reasonable to assume that Auckland will lay low. Anything else would be suicide. But allowing these guys to compete with the best is a chance they'll never get again. And they're going to sell themselves dearly, as long as the energy and adrenaline last. And by then we could be well on our way to the bank.

And Bayern is no stranger to playing against teams that are lowly, and who consider the matches against Bayern as cup finals. That is why they also created 6.47 corners on average in this year's 1.Bundesliga. So we leave both marking and goals aside, and instead land on the following bets;

FIFA WCC: Bayern Munich - Auckland City: Over 7.5 corners to Bayern Munich (1.66)