Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid — and Salzburg. The Austrian team has secured a spot in next year’s Club World Cup in the United States. Salzburg’s qualification came after Bayern Munich defeated Arsenal in the Champions League quarterfinals, completing a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Arsenal could have earned a place in the revamped tournament, which will now be held every four years, only if they had won this season’s Champions League.
Teams can earn spots in the Club World Cup by winning the Champions League since 2021 or by their performances in the Champions League over four seasons.
Salzburg benefited from a rule that allows only two teams per country to qualify unless a country has had three different Champions League winners in the last four years.
This meant that Arsenal needed to win this year’s competition to join Chelsea, the 2021 winner, and Manchester City, last year’s winner, as the other two qualified English clubs.
Among the European teams missing out are Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, and Milan. Also, not making it are Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr.
Salzburg achieved steady but unspectacular results. It qualified for the Champions League group stage in each of the last four seasons, but only made it to the round of 16 once, losing 8-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich in 2022.
Salzburg played 26 Champions League games over the last four seasons, winning only six of them. “It’s great that our Salzburg Way has taken us to the FIFA Club World Cup, and we’ll have the chance in summer 2025 to compete with the best club teams from recent years,” said Salzburg general manager Stephan Reiter.
“We don’t know all the details of the tournament yet, but we already know it will be a big challenge.”
UEFA has its ranking system for European competitions, which is different from the FIFA system used for the Club World Cup. According to UEFA’s ranking, Salzburg is the 40th strongest team in Europe, positioned between Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb and Dutch club AZ Alkmaar.
Among the European teams in the lineup are the last three Champions League winners — Chelsea, Real Madrid, and City — along with high-ranking Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter Milan, Porto, Dortmund, Benfica, Juventus, Atlético Madrid, and now Salzburg.
Three Brazilian teams — Flamengo, Palmeiras, and Fluminense — have qualified as Copa Libertadores winners since 2021. Argentina’s famous rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors are expected to qualify as high-ranking teams in South America’s six entries.
