FIFA selects Lionel Messi's Inter Miami to take part in the 2025 Club World Cup

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami have been selected to take part in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, taking place in the USA next summer.

The announcement was made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Saturday evening as Messi and Inter Miami celebrated winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the club with the best regular season record this season, following a 6-2 victory over the New England Revolution .

Inter Miami will take the host spot, which was one of two remaining spots in the 32-team tournament, which will pit soccer giants such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain against each other in a World Cup-like tournament for a championship.

Inter Miami will play in the opening game of the Club World Cup at Hard Rock Stadium on June 15, 2025. The final will take place on July 13, 2025 at MetLife Stadium – the same venue that will host the 2026 World Cup final.

“First of all, they were the best team of the season in America. Secondly, because of your outstanding performance this year, you deserve and will deserve to be at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. And thirdly, as the host team of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, you have the honor of playing the opening game in Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium,” Infantino said during the post-match ceremony at Chase Stadium.

Inter Miami is widely seen as the obvious candidate for the host bid due to Messi’s presence. The Argentine world champion and two-time Copa America winner is playing for an American team in Major League Soccer at the end of his illustrious career.

Messi is the sport’s biggest draw and would undoubtedly be the tournament’s biggest star – eclipsing the likes of Real Madrid’s star trio of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, as well as Man City’s elite goalscorer Erling Haaland.

To be clear, FIFA chose Inter Miami over Major League Soccer.

While MLS offered suggestions as criteria, FIFA was able to officially name a host country after the organization unanimously approved tournament regulations this month.

To date, FIFA has not revealed its criteria for deciding on its host country’s bid, while 30 of the 32 teams have either won a major championship or were considering the next-placed club in their respective delegations.

“Details regarding the allocation of host places will be announced in due course,” FIFA said in several articles about the tournament on its website.

Essentially, it was unclear whether Inter Miami’s MLS Supporters’ Shield title or Messi’s mere presence were qualifying factors to earn the host bid before the MLS Cup playoffs begin next week.

“We all know how much Miami loves soccer and how Inter Miami is supported by all of Florida and beyond for its exciting brand of soccer,” the FIFA president added in a statement. “Congratulations on your wonderful success in the 2024 Supporters’ Shield. You have shown that you are consistently the best club on the field in the United States.”

Inter Miami becomes the second MLS team and fifth team from North America in the Club World Cup – joining the last four winners of the Concacaf Champions Cup. Monterrey (Mexico) won in 2021, the Seattle Sounders (USA) won in 2022, Club Leon (Mexico) won in 2023 and Pachuca (Mexico) won the last Champions Cup earlier this year against the 2023 MLS champion Columbus Crew.

Here are 31 of 32 teams that have already qualified for the tournament and how they qualified:

CONCACAF: North America, Central America and the Caribbean

Monterrey (Mexico) – Concacaf Champions Cup 2021
Seattle Sounders (USA) – Concacaf Champions Cup 2022
Club Leon (Mexico) – Concacaf Champions Cup 2023
Pachuca (Mexico) – Concacaf Champions Cup 2024
Inter Miami (USA) – host of the 2025 Club World Cup

CONMEBOL: South America

Palmeiras (Brazil) – CONMEBOL Libertadores 2021
Flamengo (Brazil) – CONMEBOL Libertadores 2022
Fluminense (Brazil) – CONMEBOL Libertadores 2023
River Plate (Argentina) – CONMEBOL Rankings
Boca Juniors (Argentina) – CONMEBOL Rankings
TBD – 2024 CONMEBOL Libertadores

UEFA: Union of European Football Associations

Chelsea (England) – UEFA Champions League 2020/21
Real Madrid (Spain) – UEFA Champions League 2021/22 and 2023/24
Manchester City (England) – UEFA Champions League 2022/23
Bayern Munich (Germany) – UEFA rankings
Paris Saint-Germain (France) – UEFA rankings
Inter Milan (Italy) – UEFA Rankings
Porto (Portugal) – UEFA rankings
Benfica (Portugal) – UEFA rankings
Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – UEFA rankings
Juventus (Italy) – UEFA rankings
Atletico Madrid (Spain) – UEFA rankings
FC Salzburg (Austria) – UEFA rankings

AFC: Asian Football Confederation

Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia) – AFC Champions League 2021
Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) – AFC Champions League 2022
Al Ain (United Arab Emirates) – AFC Champions League 2023/24
Ulsan HD FC (South Korea) – AFC Ranking

CAF: Confederation of African Football

Al Ahly (Egypt) – CAF Champions League 2020/21, 2022/23 and 2023/24
Wydad (Morocco) – CAF Champions League 2021/22
ES Tunis (Tunisia) – CAF rankings
Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) – CAF Rankings

OFC: Oceanic Football Association

Auckland City (New Zealand) – OFC Rankings

Here are the stadium locations where the Club World Cup will be held:

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
TQL Stadium (Cincinnati)
Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, NC)
MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ)
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami)
Geodis Park (Nashville, Tennessee)
Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)

FIFA selects Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami to take part in the 2025 Club World Cup