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Ronwen Williams, Iqraam Rayners and Peter Shalulile, Mamelodi SundownsBackpage
Seth Willis

Why Mamelodi Sundowns might find themselves grouped with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich & Chelsea in 2025 Fifa Club World Cup

Masandawana will be dining with the big boys for the inaugral global competition to be played next year.

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Article continues below

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  • Sundowns will represent Africa
  • Thirty-two teams from around the world will be competing
  • The World Cup will be held in North America
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  • WHAT HAPPENED?

    Defending Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns will represent Africa in the expanded 2025 Fifa Club World Cup, which will be held in the United States.

    The other three teams from the continent that will compete for the trophy are Percy Tau's Al Ahly, who are the defending Caf Champions League champions, Wydad Athletic Club, who are coached by Rhulani Mokwena, and Elias Mokwana's Esperance.

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  • THE BIGGER PICTURE

    Ahead of the Thursday draw, Masandawana have been placed in Pool 4 alongside Urawa Red Diamonds from Japan, Al Ain FC of the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia's Esperance, CF Pachuca of Mexico, Seattle Sounders FC from the USA, New Zealand's Auckland City FC and Inter Miami CF of the USA.

    Pot 1: Manchester City (England), Real Madrid (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris Saint-Germain (France), CR Flamengo (Brazil), SE Palmeiras (Brazil), CA River Plate (Argentina), Fluminense FC (Brazil)

    Pot 2: Chelsea FC (England), Borussia Dortmund (German), FC Internazionale Milano (Italy), FC Porto (Portugal), Atletico Madrid (Spain), SL Benfica (Portugal), Juventus FC (Italy), FC Salzburg (Austria)

    Pot 3: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia), Ulsan HD (Korea), Al Ahly FC (Egypt), Wydad AC (Morocco), CF Monterrey (Mexico), Club Leon (Mexico), CA Boca Juniors (Argentina), Botafogo (Brazil)

  • TELL ME MORE

    In the draw that will conducted on Thursday, Masandawana might find themselves in a tough group that may include the world's best teams like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester City, PSG CR Flamengo, or even CA River Plate.

    "Several constraints will be implemented throughout the draw, including the general principle that no group can feature more than one team from the same confederation. This applies to all confederations except UEFA (Europe), which will be represented by 12 clubs at the tournament," Fifa said in a statement.

    "Therefore, four of the eight groups will feature two European clubs. A paired seeding principle based on the confederation rankings will be applied to the teams of pot 1 when allocating their respective groups."

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  • WHAT NEXT?

    Sundowns fans, and all South Africans at large, hope their team can land a favourable group to make it out of the pool.

    The competition will be played from June 15 to July 13.

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