Why aren't Liverpool, Barcelona and Napoli in Club World Cup even though they won their leagues this season?

Published on Jun 14, 2025

The FIFA Club World Cup is just around the corner. Kicking off on Saturday as Inter Miami and Al Ahy meet in Miami, the tournament will take place in the United States to determine who the best club team is in the world is. Featuring the beat teams of each continent, it's a truly global tournament that, with it's expansion to 32 teams, will ensure that even if a side didn't win the league this year, if they recently won the Champions League, they're still included in the affair.

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Liverpool and Barcelona miss out

But that also means that two league winners are left out. La Liga winners Barcelona and Premier League winners Liverpool won't be taking part in the tournament, and Serie A winners Napoli also won't be in the Club World Cup after their unexpected Scudetto triumph. On one hand, they may appreciate having a summer away from the demands of soccer, on the other hand this it a tournament with one billion dollars of prize money that they won't be able to compete for.

The previous four (technically three) winners of the UEFA Champions League qualified directly for this tournament and they are Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City. There are only three continental champion slots for UEFA due to Real Madrid winning the Champions League in 2021-22 and 2023-24. There was then the UEFA ranking pathway, which brought in the highest ranked teams for each confederation based on their total performance. UEFA was given nine spots via the ranking pathways, which went to Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and RB Salzburg.

If these rankings were done now after the season, Juventus and Benfica would be out, with Liverpool and RB Leipzig being the teams to replace them after strong seasons have seen them improve their UEFA Club rankings. Barcelona currently sit 12th in those rankings one point behind RB Leipzig, which would make things close. As things stand, they'd likely qualify for the next edition of this tournament, but they'd certainly prefer leaving out the guesswork by qualifying via winning the Champions League.

Did you know that you can watch the entire 2025 FIFA Club World Cup live on DAZN (for free)?

Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras (BRA), Porto (PRT), Al Ahly (EGY), Inter Miami (USA)
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Atletico Madrid (ESP), Botafogo (BRA), Seattle Sounders (USA)
Group C: Bayern Munich (DEU), Auckland City (NZL), Boca Juniors (ARG), Benfica (PRT)
Group D: Flamengo (BRA), Esperance de Tunis (TUN), Chelsea (GBR), Los Angeles FC (USA)
Group E: River Plate (ARG), Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN), Monterrey (MEX), Inter (ITA)
Group F: Fluminense (BRA), Borussia Dortmund (DEU), Ulsan HD (KOR), Mamelodi Sundowns (ZAF)
Group G: Manchester City (GBR), Wydad AC (MAR), Al Ain (UAE), Juventus (ITA)
Group H: Real Madrid (ESP), Al-Hilal (KSA), Pachuca (MEX), Red Bull Salzburg (AUT)

Club World Cup schedule Group stage

All times ET, matches on DAZN (try for free)

Saturday, June 14