Chelsea will be aiming to win the Club World Cup for the second time when they take part in the tournament that starts this weekend, but they will have to win significantly more games to be crowned champions this time around.
The Blues lifted the Club World Cup title in 2021 after winning the UEFA Champions League, but there were only six other teams taking part then, with Chelsea beating Al Hilal in the semi-final and then Palmeiras after extra-time in the final.
This time around there are 32 teams taking part, after FIFA decided to expand the competition, with this being the first year of the new iteration of the international club tournament.
Chelsea will be in the group stages, with the top two from eight groups going through to a round of 16, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and then a final.
The tournament is being held in the United States of America and gets under way today (June 14).
But why are Chelsea even in it? The competition used to be for the winners of the various Champions Leagues around the world, as well as the Copa Libertadores winners and other nominated teams, with the Saudi Pro League champions taking a spot last year.
Chelsea were not even in the UEFA Champions League this season just gone but qualified as a result of having won the Champions League in 2020/21.
In the new expanded format, UEFA were awarded 12 spots, with four going to the last four winners of the Champions League. Because Real Madrid won it twice in that time, three teams took those spots – Chelsea and Manchester City alongside Los Blancos.
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The FIFA Club World Cup will see 32 of the world’s best club teams including Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich play across 63 games from June 14-July 13.
Fans can watch every match live and for free by signing up to DAZN.
The other nine spots were then given to the best ranked teams in the UEFA Champions League over the same four-year period, but with the stipulation that each country could only have a maximum of two teams taking part.
With Manchester City and Chelsea already in it, the Premier League could have no other representatives, meaning the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United missed out – although United and Arsenal were not in the top 20 best performing teams in the Champions League in that four-year period anyway.
Joining City and Chelsea in the competition are fellow European sides Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and RB Salzburg.
Chelsea’s first game is against Los Angeles FC on Monday night, with kick-off at 8pm UK time. They will also play Flamengo and ES Tunis in the group stage. If they reach the final they will be out in the USA until July 13.
