Chelsea are in line for a tough Club World Cup draw after being placed in Pot 2 for Thursday’s draw.
The expanded tournament takes shape this week as the 32 teams are drawn into groups ahead of next summer inaugural edition.
United States will host the month-long tournament, which will feature teams from all six confederations.
For the draw, the teams have been split into four pots of eight teams, with rankings based on performances in each continent's top-tier competition across the previous four seasons.
For example, European teams will be judged on their Champions League performances and CONMEBOL teams on their Copa Libertadores displays
Pot 1 consists of the best European and South American teams, Pot 2 is the remaining European teams, Pot 3 is the two best from the remaining confederations and Pot 4 is the remainder and the sole Oceania Football Confederation representative.
The draw will create four groups of eight teams, with no group able to feature more than one team from the same confederation with the exception of UEFA and clubs from the same member association cannot be paired together.
Chelsea have found themselves top of Pot 2, meaning they will get one of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain. Manchester City, meanwhile will get one of Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Porto, Benfica or FC Salzburg.
2025 Club World Cup draw pots confirmed
Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense
Pot 2: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan,Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, FC Salzburg
Pot 3: Al Hilal, Ulsan HD, Al Ahly, Wydad AC, Monterrey, Club Leon, Boca Juniors, Botafogo
Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance de Tunis, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami
The draw for the 2025 Club World Cup takes place on Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 6pm UK time. You can follow the whole draw with Standard Sport’s dedicated LIVE blog.
