Legendary former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been left surprised by the level of competition in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, reflecting on the group stages performances.
A total of 32 teams started the tournament in the United States of America, and while all four teams from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) were eliminated, many of them made an impression on the world stage.
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Sundowns, with four points, were statistically the best performers, while all four Brazilian teams stunned by qualifying for the round of 16, unbeaten.
“The competition is much tighter than expected. We wanted to create this [FIFA] Club World Cup to give the big clubs from all over the world the opportunity to come here,” FIFA Chief of Global Football Development, Wenger said.
“It looks like it’s the start of something that will never stop again. Our hope is that the teams that competed here go home and say, ‘Next time, we know what we have to do to come back stronger’ and that in their countries this also helps to develop the game.”
Four confederations were represented in the round of 16 including nine from UEFA, four from CONMEBOL, two from Concacaf and one from the AFC.
However, Botafogo have since been eliminated by Palmeiras, Inter Miami knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica by Chelsea and Flamengo by FC Bayern München.
However, Gilberto, a member of the FIFA Technical Study Group stated it was one of the best things that has happened to Brazilian football to be able to compete at this level of international football.
“I believe that this tournament is one of the best things that has happened for Brazilian football in the last few months,” said Silva. “Now you can see that the Brazilian clubs are competing [at] a very high level and show that we are in a good place.
“Of course, there [are] a lot of things to improve… [We] just take away what we need to bring back to the country to improve our game and be competitive around the world as we are showing here.”
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