Manchester City at FIFA Club World Cup 2025: All you need to know
Manchester City will be one of 32 teams from across the globe taking part in the 2025 Club World Cup. The newly formatted Club World Cup starts in the USA on Saturday, June 14th and runs until the final on Sunday, July 14th.
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We have put together all the important information about City's involvement in the tournament with fixture details, opponents, squad information, where to watch and more below so you can follow the Sky Blues as they aim for international success stateside.
Schedule, fixtures and opponents
Like the World Cup, there are 32 teams in the whole tournament, split between eight groups. Each group was seeded and put into a draw last December. Manchester City will be in Group G of the Club World Cup and go in as one of the favourites to win the whole tournament. They are joined in their group by the Moroccan team Wydad AC, AFC Champions League winners Al Ain FC from the United Arab Emirates, and fellow European heavyweights Juventus from Italy.
City will face each team once, starting with Wydad AC on 18th June at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. After this, on June 22nd, City face Al Ain FC at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, before playing Juventus four days later at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando on June 26th.
Group stage match fixtures
Date: Wednesday, June 18th
Kick-off: 12pm EDT
Stadium: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia (PA)
Date: Sunday, June 22nd
Kick-off: 9pm EDT
Stadium: Mercedez-Benz Stadium, Atalanta (GA)
Date: Wednesday, June 18th
Kick-off: 3pm EDT
Stadium: Camping World Stadium, Orlando (FL)
Knockout stage match fixtures
The format for the Club World Cup follows the standard structure for tournaments of this size. The top two teams from each group will go through to the knockout phase. This starts with the round of 16 that has 16 teams in it. Each team will face a one-legged knockout tie against an opponent from another group depending on where they finished - first place from one group will play second place from another.
If Man City end up as Group G winners or runner-ups, they will face a team from Group H in the round of 16. That group consists of serial Champions League opponents Real Madrid from Spain, Saudi Arabia giants Al Hilal, Concacaf Champions Cup winners Pachuca from Mexico and Austrian powerhouses Red Bull Salzburg.
Manchester City's two potential Round of 16 ties
R16 Match 6: Group G winners vs. Group H runners-up
Date: Tuesday, July 1st
Kick-off: 2am EDT
Stadium: Camping World Stadium, Orlando (FL)
R16 Match 7: Group H winners vs. Group H runners-up
Date: Tuesday, July 1st
Kick-off: 8pm
Stadium: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami (FL)
Manchester City’s opponents for CWC 2025
Wydad AC - Morocco
Moroccan side Wydad AC are one of four clubs from Africa in the Club World Cup. They qualified from being CAF Champions League 2021/22 winners. They are nicknamed the Red Devils, just like Man City’s rivals Manchester United, and have won the most domestic silverware in Morocco with a record 22 league titles.
Al Ain FC - UAE
Al Ain from the UAE will be one of the four Asian sides competing in the tournament this year. They qualified by winning the 2023/24 AFC Champions League and are the most successful club in the UAE. Famous ex-players include Ghana’s record goalscorer Asamoah Gyan, who once scored 21 goals in just 22 matches in the 2012/12 season for the club.
Juventus FC - Italy
The Bianconeri are arguably Italy’s most famous club. They are one of 12 European sides at the Club World Cup and qualified for the tournament via the UEFA ranking pathway from consistent performances in the UEFA Champions League. Also known as ‘The Old Lady’, Juve won nine league titles in a row from the 2011/12 season until 2019/20
TV coverage: Where to watch Manchester City at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
All 63 matches in the Club World Cup will be shown exclusively live on DAZN. DAZN has decided to air every single 2025 Club World Cup fixture for free, meaning City fans can follow their team at no extra cost.
As DAZN holds full broadcasting rights, the London-based entertainment platform can sub-license matches to free-to-air TV channels. Alternatively, City fans can watch all their team's games online or by downloading the DAZN App onto their smart TVs, smartphones, tablets, or game consoles.
Expected lineup: Man City’s squad list for CWC 2025
Manchester City will hope to head into the Club World Cup with many of their major injuries over. Whilst teams may be inclined to rest players, we can expect Man City to take a team full of experience to the tournament.
Teams involved in the Club World Cup will be given special dispensation to conduct transfer activity a fortnight in advance of the tournament, meaning for City, that their transfer window will open at the start of June rather than June 12th like it is for all other UEFA-affiliated clubs. The controversial move means that City could include a bunch of new players in their squad for the tournament.
Also, players who have their contact ending during the Club World Cup will be allowed to stay and play for their teams until the tournament's culmination. For City, this means that Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, and Scott Carson can all still play after their contracts are up on June 30th if they do not agree on a new one.
We would expect many young players to be integrated into the team for regular appearances like Nico O’Reily and Divin Mubama, plus recent signings Claudio Echeverri and Vitor Reis. Players returning from injury are likely to feature, like Rodri and Nathan Ake.
City’s potential Club World Cup squad
Goalkeepers
Ederson, Stegan Ortega, Scott Carson
Defenders
Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Vitor Reis, Abdukodir Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Nico O’Reilly
Midfielders
Rodri, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic, Nico Gonzales, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Claudio Echeverri, James McAtee
Forwards
Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Savinho, Erling Haaland, Iscar Bobb, Omar Marmoush
Players to watch
Rodri
The winner of the 2024 Ballon d’Or has been injured for the majority of the 2024/25 season with an ACL injury. However, the dominating midfielder has been back in individual training already, and Pep Guardiola did say that he could feature before the end of the domestic season. You would expect the best player in the world to play in the Club World Cup to get minutes back in his legs and make his City side better. Rodri has gone 52 games in the Premier League undefeated and has a 74% win ratio when playing for City, underlining his impact on the team.
Omar Marmoush
The January signing already has a hat trick to his name in the Premier League and looks like an exciting addition to a formidable front line at City. The Egyptian will get better and better as the season goes on as he gets used to his team and their style.
Erling Haaland
The name Erling Haaland is one that most people in the world would now recognise. His goal-scoring record speaks for itself. The imperious striker has 221 goals in 252 appearances across his whole career. He has the record for the most goals in a Premier League season and was the fastest player to reach 30 and 40 goals in the Champions League.
Winner odds: What are City’s chances of winning this year?
This season has not been the most memorable for Manchester City based on their high standards. The only potential piece of silverware they can win is the FA Cup, however, indifferent performances in all competitions will give all other teams left in that cup hope that they can defeat City.
Despite all this, Manchester City are the bookmakers' favourite to win the 2025 Club World Cup. The Sky Blues are down at 7/2 to win on Paddy Power. Other favourites to win are Real Madrid at 4/1, Bayern Munich at 7/1 and then Chelsea at 17/2. The European teams dominate the top of the odds, with Inter Milan down at 11/1 followed by PSG at 12/1 and Atletico at 14/1.
How did City qualify for the 2025 tournament?
City qualified for the Club World Cup when they won the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League. The Citizens beat Inter Milan in Istanbul thanks to a goal from Ballon d’Or winner Rodri. All the teams that have won a premier continental title within the last four seasons have been invited.
Man City’s 2025 Club World Cup kit
City are yet to unveil a dedicated kit for the tournament. They have not released the kit for the 2025/26 season either so we are yet to see what City may wear stateside.
Has Man City ever previously won the Club World Cup?
Manchester City have only won the Champions League once, so have only competed in the Club World Cup once before, albeit in its old format rather than the new one. That tournament was held in Saudi Arabia in 2023, where City started their pursuit of the trophy against winners of the 2022 AFC Champions League, Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan, in the semifinals.
A 3-0 victory saw City move to the finals against Fluminese, where they went one better and scored four without reply, winning their first Club World Cup.