Five of Top 12 European Teams Not Playing in Club World Cup 2025, Know Reasons Behind Man United, Barcelona, Liverpool’s Absence From Mega Tournament
PSG’s emphatic 5-0 UEFA Champions League final win over Inter Milan brought down the curtains on another blistering football season in Europe. For football fans, though, the fun continues with the arrival of the FIFA Club World Cup, scheduled to commence on June 15th and end on July 13 2025.
This year’s expanded format of the competition means 32 teams will be involved, but some fans are left disappointed as some major European heavyweight clubs miss out on a competition that now comes up quadrennially. Teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Ajax, AC Milan and Lyon are not part of the competition.
Ahead of the commencement of the competition, FIFA allocated 12 slots to Europe with the first 4 of those going to the winners of the UEFA Champions League between 2021-2024, the 8 slots left will go to teams with a higher Uefa Co-efficient ranking which is attained based on consistent performance over the period of 2021-2024 in the Uefa Champions League.
One important rule by FIFA was restricting the maximum representation of Clubs from one member association to 2.
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European Clubs Ranking as per UEFA
The Champions League between 2021-24 has been won by Chelsea (2021), Real Madrid(2022), Manchester City (2023) and Real Madrid (2024)
| Ranking | Club | Agujas |
| 1 | Manchester City | 148.00 |
| 2 | Bayern Múnich | 144 |
| 3 | Real Madrid | 136 |
| 4 | PSG | 116 |
| 5 | Liverpool | 114 |
| 6 | Roma | 101 |
| 7 | Inter de Milán | 101 |
| 8 | Dortmund | 97 |
| 9 | Leipzig | 97 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 96 |
| 11 | Man utd | 92 |
| 12 | Barcelona | 91 |
With 3 sides winning the last 4 editions, Europe was left with 9 more slots to be taken and the Uefa Coefficient ranking was used with teams performance in the Champions League over the last 4 years the yardstick unless two teams had already Qualified from the same country, so why did top sides like Manchester united and Barcelona miss out on the Club World Cup?
Why are Top Teams Like Manchester United, Barcelona and Liverpool not in the Club World Cup 2025?
Barcelona
Atletico Madrid simply had a better Champions League campaign between 2021-24, while Barcelona suffered back-to-back group stage exits from 2021 to 2023 and a quarter-final berth. Atletico Madrid qualified for the knockout stage 3 times, with 2 quarter-final appearances. With Real Madrid picking the ‘Champions Slot’ and from Spain, it meant only Atletico Madrid could join them despite.
Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool
Only a win in the Champions League for Manchester United in the 2023-24 season would have seen the Red Devils qualify for the Club World Cup instead, they failed to qualify from the group stage, finishing a disappointing bottom. Manchester City eventually won the Champions League; they, along with 2021 champions Chelsea, qualify from England.
Liverpool also missed out on the Club World Cup by virtue of Chelsea and Manchester City’s Champions League win between 2021 and 2024, even though Liverpool had a higher Coefficient than Chelsea as at the 2023-2024 season.
Associations (UEFA)
Chelsea
Real Madrid
Manchester City
Bayern Múnich
París Saint-Germain
Inter de Milán
Porto
Benfica
Borussia Dortmund
Juventus
Atletico Madrid
Red Bull Salzburg
Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami will take on Egyptian side Al Ahly at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium in the opening match on 15 June, with kick-off at 1 am UK time. Kick-off times throughout the tournament range from 5 pm UK time to 2 am.
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