Everyone knows about the FIFA World Cup, the contest to pits the world’s soccer crazy nations against each other for football supremacy. Many parts of the planet simply shut down during the World Cup to admire the skill and teamwork of the winning squads. But we got one more year to wait until the United States, Canada, and Mexico play host to the 2026 World Cup, the first time multiple nations have hosted the tournament.
But to whet your whistle, the U.S. is home to a reconstituted FIFA Club World Cup in a radically different format and with the most teams ever, the 32-team bracket that is familiar to fans of the nations World Cup. The 32 teams come from across all six FIFA confederations competing in the United States. It will feature 63 matches in 29 days, starting with Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF taking on Al Ahly FC at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida. The final will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday, July 13. Lots of the world’s most famous clubs are competing, including Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Juventus.
The competition is structured exactly like the regular World Cup. The 32 teams are divided into eight groups for the Group stage. Two of the four teams in each group advances to the quarterfinal stage and the knockout round, where one loss means you’re out. That stage is followed by the semifinal and the final rounds.
Favorite Sons
With so many fabulous teams competing in the FIFA Club World Cup, anything can happen when the best teams collide, but most of the groups have definite favorites.
For group winners, Group B is probably the most overweighted with Paris St. Germain (PSG) a -1667 favorite (-7000 to qualify) via BetRivers in Group B. Real Madrid is the second favorite in Group H at -670. In Group C, it’s Bayern Munich by -480 (-1450 to qualify), followed by Chelsea in Group D at -420 (-3335 to qualify) and Manchester City in Group G at -250 (-2500 to qualify).
The only group that has all plus bets is Group A, giving Inter Miami a fighting chance at +500 (+180 to qualify).
For the overall winner of the FIFA Club World Cup, PSG is leading at +300, followed by Man City and Real Madrid at +500, and Bayern Munich at +850.
Favorite Bets
There are many other bets, of course. You can not only bet on who will win the group, but also who will finish at the bottom. In Group B, which hosts the heavily favored PSG, one of the two American teams, the Seattle Sounders, are only -1000 to bring up the rear, equal with Atletico Madrid. In Group H, CF Pachuca is +120.
How about betting on a team to reach the finals? With so many great teams, do a little research to find which has been hot recently, and you might get some realistic picks.
Betting the Over/Under goals can be interesting in soccer because there are so few goals scored. While this might be a nod to the Overs during the group stages with so many mismatches, when the Knockout Rounds get underway, the Unders are a stronger bet since defenses tend to stiffen up at this stage.
Underappreciated Odds
With so many historically great clubs in this tournament, you might be tempted to bet just the names and not do the research into their current results or their competitive leagues. If you’re from Argentina or pay attention to their league, River Plate and Boca Juniors are the legendary names. But look closer and you’ll see that their reputations might precede them, and the odds are more favorable if they are underappreciated.
In addition to the names of the clubs, the names of the superstars can also be a trap. While players like Mbappé, Dembélé, Rodri, or Estevão—or even Messi—are truly great players, in the Knockout stage, they might not be so important. Play them early in the tournament as goal scorers when there are definite mismatches.
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