As the days tick down to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, we continue our coverage of the tournament.
Here, we look at Group D of the inaugural Club World Cup and the teams in it.
Chelsea qualified for the tournament by winning the UEFA Champions League in 2021, fulfilling the condition of winning the highest tournament in their confederation during the 2021–2024 cycle.
Flamengo qualified by winning the 2022 Copa Libertadores.
ES Tunis qualified as one of the highest-ranked sides in their confederation (CAF) during the 2021–2024 cycle.
LAFC qualified by winning a play-off game against Mexican side Club América 2-1. The Major League Soccer outfit thus replaced Mexican outfit Club León, who were disqualified from the CWC in March for breaking FIFA regulations — a decision later upheld by the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
Chelsea come into the tournament on the back of winning the UEFA Europa Conference League. With young players like Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernández, Moisés Caicedo, Levi Colwill, and Reece James, the Enzo Maresca–led team will look to add another trophy to their collection.
Flamengo have a mix of young players and veterans, with former Juventus and Manchester City defender Danilo and former Juve fullback Alex Sandro headlining the Brazilian side’s charge.
Meanwhile, EST will be banking on their duo of midfielder Youcef Belaïli and forward Yan Sasse to give them the creative flair and finishing firepower up front.
Finally, LAFC have their own core of veteran players to count on. From former World Cup–winning Frenchmen Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris to former Turkish wonderkid Cengiz Ünder, they have enough firepower to make a statement as one of three American clubs in the competition.
While Chelsea are the clear favourites to make it out of this group, predicting the second-placed team is where it gets a bit tricky.
On paper, each side has enough quality, skill, and know-how to hold its own. However, when all is said and done, the edge goes to LAFC given the home advantage and the big-competition experience in their ranks.
This group has all the makings of giving us competitive and tightly contested fixtures, with qualification to the knockouts likely to go down to the final match.
We back Chelsea to qualify as Group D winners and LAFC as runners-up.
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