Three years out from the second edition of the Club World Cup in its new format, the list of participants is beginning to take shape.
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal on penalties on Saturday to win the Champions League for the second season in a row. Kai Havertz had given Arsenal the lead in the fifth minute in Budapest, though Ousmane Dembele equalised from the penalty spot.
Neither team was able to find a winner in extra-time so the match was decided by penalties, with PSG winning the shootout 4-3 after Arsenal defender Gabriel sent his spot-kick over the bar.
Having now concluded the second season of the four-year qualification window for the competition, here is how the 2029 men’s Club World Cup is shaping up.
Who has qualified for the next Club World Cup?
While FIFA is widely believed to be exploring the possibility of making the Club World Cup a biannual event with 48 teams competing, that has yet to materialise. As such, the process for qualifying for the Club World Cup remains the same with two routes: teams must either win their respective continental competition within that four-year cycle, for example, the UEFA Champions League for European clubs, or qualify through their ranking points obtained in their continental competitions over that same period.
Last season marked the first of this cycle’s four-year qualifying window, so Paris Saint-Germain became the first European side to qualify for the 2029 Club World Cup after winning the Champions League.
They subsequently retained their title against Arsenal on Saturday.
They will be joined by Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli, who beat Japanese side Machida to win back-to-back AFC Champions League titles. Pyramids will be one of Africa’s representatives after their CAF Champions League final win against Mamelodi Sundowns last year.
Elsewhere, Liga MX side Cruz Azul reached the Club World Cup after beating Vancouver Whitecaps in last year’s Concacaf Champions Cup final, and Flamengo’s Copa Libertadores win ensured they will return to the competition.
So what happens to PSG’s spot given they already qualified?
There will again be 12 places for European clubs at the Club World Cup in 2029. As a result, at least eight will qualify via their continental ranking between the 2024-25 and 2027-28 seasons.
So, in light of PSG winning the Champions League twice in this four-year period, the ‘extra’ spot will simply go to the next highest team in the rankings.
PSG retained their Champion s League crown against Arsenal (Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images
That does come with the caveat that a maximum of two clubs from the same nation can compete at the Club World Cup.
Where will the next men’s Club World Cup be?
There are several potential options for the staging of the next version of the summer tournament.
In June 2025, the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) expressed its interest in hosting the 2029 competition, saying its president, Sami Xaud, held a meeting with his FIFA counterpart, Gianni Infantino, where the idea was discussed.
“President Gianni Infantino was very happy and said that it was totally possible,” Xaud said, via the CBF website. “Now, we’re going to work to make it happen. It’s going to be a great goal.”
The Athletic reported in December 2024 that FIFA was considering hosting the tournament in the United States, the same host country in which last year’s inaugural Club World Cup took place. The decision to award the U.S. with the 2029 Club World Cup would have to go through the FIFA Council and that is yet to happen.
Chelsea won the Club World Cup in 2025 (Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images)
Part of the thinking behind taking the Club World Cup back to America in 2029 is that it would enable FIFA to consolidate U.S. sponsors for this tournament, as well as having a legacy event following the 2026 men’s World Cup. It would also suit clubs, with the U.S. a priority market for many leading European teams, many of whom have chosen to spend their pre-seasons traversing the country to build their profile stateside. La Liga has also been attempting to take a competitive league match to Miami.
Meanwhile, James Johnson, Football Australia’s chief executive, told the Sydney Morning Herald in June 2023 that his country would consider lodging a bid to host the competition, while some reports from Africa quoted the Moroccan FA (FRMF) chief Fouzi Lekjaa as saying his nation, alongside Spain and Portugal, would want to host the tournament a year before they act as co-hosts for the men’s World Cup.
Which PL sides are in the Champions League in 26-27?
The Premier League will, once again, be well-represented in the Champions League next season.
Having once again secured an extra ‘European Performance Spot’ for the competition due to the performance of English sides in UEFA competitions, five Premier League teams will be playing among the continent’s elite.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool comprised the top five in the Premier League this season.
There was an interesting factor at play on the final day of the 2025-26 Premier League season, in which there could have been six teams heading to the Champions League. Should Aston Villa have finished fifth, Bournemouth would be entering the competition, as a result of Villa taking the extra Champions League spot after also winning the Europa League. But Unai Emery’s side beating Manchester City alongside Liverpool drawing with Brentford meant that outcome did not materialise.
What about the Europa League?
Sunderland enjoyed a strong return to the Premier League and will play continental football next season for the first time since 1973-74. They were a point behind eighth-placed Brentford before the final match of the season, but a 2-1 win over Chelsea helped Regis Le Bris’ side qualify for the Europa League, and the highest-placed finish of a newly-promoted side since Wolves in 2018-19.
Joining them for a maiden Europa League campaign of their own will be Bournemouth, as outgoing head coach Andoni Iraola left his side with the parting gift of their highest-ever top-flight finish. His side suffered just one league defeat since the turn of the year, despite losing key player Antoine Semenyo in January. They finished just three points behind fifth-placed Liverpool.
And the Conference League?
Brighton & Hove Albion will play Conference League football for the first time in the club’s history, following on from their maiden European campaign in the 2023-24 season, when they featured in the Europa League.
Fabian Hurzeler guided Brighton to an eighth-placed finish for the second successive season, while they have now finished in the top half of the Premier League in four of the last five years. Brighton ultimately fell one point short of the Europa League, and could even have lodged themselves within the battle for the top five, but a 3-1 defeat by Newcastle United and, more notably, their stoppage-time 1-0 loss against Leeds United saw them fall away, before a 3-0 final-day defeat at home to Manchester United.
Are there any surprises across Europe?
Serie A side Como will make their Champions League debut next season after securing a fourth-place finish in the Italian top-flight. Led by former Arsenal and Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas, Como, who were only promoted to Serie A in 2024, qualified via a 4-1 victory away at Cremonese on the final day.
Roma’s esteemed history in Europe makes the fact they have not played in the Champions League since 2018-19 a little hard to believe. Semi-finalists in the competition as recently as 2017-18, the Serie A club secured a third-place finish this season for the first time in eight years. In Gian Piero Gasperini, they have a head coach with strong recent experience in the competition.
Fabregas’ Como will play Champions League football for the first time in their history (Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Ligue 1 side Lens will play top-flight European football for just the fourth time in their history following an excellent 2025-26 campaign which saw them finish second.
For much of the season, Lens appeared genuine title contenders with Paris Saint-Germain, but ended up finishing six points behind the champions. The nine points separating Lens and third-placed Lille demonstrate just how comfortable Pierre Sage’s team were in qualifying for the Champions League, and their hopes will be that they can reach the competition’s knockout stages for the first time in history.
Alongside England, Spain’s favourable European Performance Spot saw them also gain an extra Champions League spot. Real Betis were the beneficiaries, comfortably securing fifth spot in La Liga with two games to spare. They have made just one prior appearance in the competition, failing to exit the group stage of the 2005-06 tournament. Next season will mark a seventh year in charge for former Manchester City and West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini.
Where are the European finals in 26-27?
The 2027 Champions League final will take place in Atletico Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano.
It will be the second time the competition’s showpiece event takes place at the venue, having also staged the 2019 final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Per Atletico’s website, the stadium holds 64,440 seats in the general seating capacity and 6,020 seats in the VIP sections.
Meanwhile, the 2027 Europa League final will be staged at Eintracht Frankfurt’s Waldstadion. It will mark the first time the competition’s final has been hosted at the 58,000-capacity stadium in its modern history, having previously been the venue for the second leg of the 1980 UEFA Cup final.
The 2027 Conference League final will be played at Tupras Stadium in Istanbul. The stadium, home of Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas, holds 42,684 and played host to this year’s Europa League final between Aston Villa and Freiburg.
