Key Takeaways
- The new-look Club World Cup has been a huge success, according to data analysis by FIFA.
- Five soccer legends discussed the findings on Thursday in New York City with RG in attendance.
- Keep reading to find out how attacking has been at the forefront of this tournament.
Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid competes for the ball with Ousmane Dembele (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
The insignia on the revolving doors revealed three phrases: FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA Coupe de Monde des Clubs, and FIFA Mundial de Clubes. The hotel lobby contained 20 of the world’s leading soccer journalists, who discussed the hottest topics from the tournament whilst imbibing coffee drinks. And at 4 p.m. on Thursday, five soccer legends poured into the second floor of the glamorous Park Lane Hotel, conglomerating into a small conference room to produce their analysis on the tournament: ex-Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, ex-Inter midfielder Esteban Cambiasso, World Cup winner Jürgen Klinsmann, retired Swiss goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler, and Portugal manager Roberto Martínez.
Under the glimmer of three glass chandeliers, these five men gathered in front of a backdrop featuring various “FIFA Club World Cup 2025” logos, poured over match footage from the tournament and demonstrated a number of graphics and data visuals, before fielding questions from journalists. It was the culmination of a month of hard work and analysis from FIFA’s Technical Study Group, headed by FIFA Chief of Global Football Analysis Arsène Wenger and featuring other big names like ex-Brazil international Gilberto Silva, Libya manager Aliou Cissé, and USWNT legend Tobin Heath. These analysts, who are also responsible for selecting the winners of FIFA awards, vigorously studied all of the matches in the tournaments.
With just one more game remaining in the first-ever edition of the tournament, it was finally time for the FIFA Club World Cup technical study.
Out of the many takeaways, one of them was the proliferation of goals. Not only have there been more goals scored at the FIFA Club World Cup than in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, but there have also been more goals scored from outside the box. What’s more, whilst squad usage is similar to the 2022 World Cup on average, the utilization of substitutes has taken a step forward: six of the 13 non-penalty goals scored in this tournament have featured a contribution from a substitute. What’s more, the effectiveness and importance of pressure have gone up, making the work rate out of possession far more pertinent in winning matches.
“It’s not about the style, it’s about being good with the style,” stated Martínez. “Now, the teams are more organized, they’re spending more time organizing the press. It’s more about the organization – which areas are you going to press? Now, there’s more protection for the player on the ball, now teams are more organized on the ball.”
Furthermore, the role of the goalkeeper in possession has become much more profound – goalkeepers are averaging more short passes (7.8) than the 2022 World Cup (7.6). They are proving far more confident in dragging their opponent in with short, measured passes before cutting open the defense with a long ball. Moreover, there were 78 X-blocks performed by goalkeepers up to the quarterfinals, twice as many as in the World Cup (39). Goalkeepers are showcasing more courage in terms of coming off their line, never turning away, and closing down the space to give the attacker less time to get a shot off.
In terms of the two finalists that will take to MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Chelsea have utilized 27 players, whereas PSG have used 19 over the course of the tournament.
“This situation happens because they are at a different moment,” stated Cambiasso. “PSG understood which ones are the players who won the Champions League, and they continued at the same squad. There are a lot of young players at Chelsea, and Maresca is using this competition to understand what he will do. Chelsea always wants to play in an offensive mood, but when they have some difficulties, Moisés Caicedo always helps them. He’s a player who sometimes you can’t see in the game, but when you miss him, you’re thinking, ‘how can we live without him?’”
Chelsea have demonstrated their profligacy at attacking through wide areas: out of the 32 teams competing in the tournament, only Inter (34.3), Manchester City (33.2), and Pachuca (30.3) have racked up more final third entries between the width of the penalty area than Chelsea (27.6). The Blues also ranked third for successful linebreaks completed through the opponent’s team shape (42 per 60 minutes), as well as seventh for regains following a defensive pressure (10 per 60 minutes).
As for their upcoming opponents Paris Saint-Germain, they sit third for the highest probability of attempts at goal (0.17 xG). Furthermore, only Benfica, Mamelodi Sundowns, and Juventus rank higher for them for Expected Goals per 90. In terms of offering for the ball in behind that were received, they sit first (29 per 60 minutes), showcasing their hard work off the ball in order to make fluid rotations and offer teammates a quick passing option. It’s this relentless work on and off the ball that has seen Les Parisiens transform into an impenetrable behemoth under Luis Enrique.
“PSG tries to suffocate you from the first moment, they play a high pressure and try to force you into mistakes…there is no 20 minutes of feeling out the game,” stated Klinsmann.
“This PSG team goes on the field and wants to get at you. We saw the first two goals vs. Real that were individual mistakes, but those were forced…they’re doing a high press with such energy. For any striker, this is a system that you would love. It’s also about team chemistry, because you can only play this type of football if everyone buys into it.”
Enrique’s meticulous approach has combined PSG’s individual quality with a relentless dedication off the ball. They have combined power with the ability to change direction, pace with finesse, and a technically astute side where just about every player thrives at dribbling out of pressure and commits themselves fully to winning back possession. PSG ranked second in the tournament for high turnovers (7.1), just behind German champions Bayern Munich (7.4), who fell to an undermanned PSG side in the quarterfinal in Atlanta. They never once give their opponents a chance to breathe, constantly closing down their rivals and recovering possession with a breathless intensity and surgical precision.
Paris Saint-Germain will enter Sunday’s final thanks to quick and powerful wing play as well as cool and composed midfield play, pushing their opponents deeper and keeping them perplexed with an abundance of free-flowing positional rotations. At the top of the attacking trident, there is Ousmane Dembélé, dropping in from the false 9 role and combining with his fellow teammates. In defense, there are two fullbacks – Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes – who thrive at bombing forward and advancing into the final third before getting off a dangerous cross.
Despite coming off the back of a lengthy season, and despite often playing on challenging grass pitches, PSG and Chelsea have both advanced all the way to the final, which will take place on Sunday at 3 pm local time in East Rutherford, New Jersey. And what’s more, they’ve done so despite a number of pesky weather delays and unbearable summer heat throughout the past month in the United States.
The Club World Cup has been embraced by soccer fans from across Asia, Africa, North America and South America, but arguably the one continent where it hasn’t quite caught on is Europe – Western Europe specifically. Whereas many fanbases have adored the newfound tournament, many fans from Western Europe (England in particular) have continued to look down on it.
“It was a big contrast from Europe and the rest of the world…the media in Europe were a bit more skeptical,” stated Wenger. “We had a lot of complaints about the number of games played…but the South American teams came here having played far more games than European teams. There was a confusion…the Club World Cup was needed because it gives the chance for everybody to become world champions.”
Will Paris Saint-Germain continue their stellar campaign and win the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday? Or will Chelsea prevail with the top honors? Stay tuned for an enthralling end to the tournament.
