2025 Club World Cup preview: What to know about all 32 teams - ESPN

After months of hype, pomp and circumstance, it's finally here! The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup kicks off this weekend across the U.S., with the opener on Saturday night in Miami as Inter Miami CF host Al Ahly to get things underway. The 10-day transfer window designed to help CWC participants staff up for action has closed, with several new stars set to debut for Real Madrid (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Hujisen), Manchester City (Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki) and Chelsea (Liam Delap), and the action comes thick and fast, with 63 games over the next month.

While the field is loaded with European superpowers like Madrid, City, Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan, all the world's top clubs on other continents are also taking part, from Argentinian duo Boca Juniors and River Plate to Brazil's Botafogo, winners of the 2024 Copa Libertadores, and Al Ahly, the 10-time Club World Cup participants from Egypt.

So, ahead of the action, consider this your handy guide to all the teams, how they got here, and what we think we'll do in this competition.

Where they play: Egyptian Premier League
How they qualified for Club World Cup: Winners of 2020-21 CAF Champions League

What is their Club World Cup goal? As 12-time African champions and CAF's African Club of the 20th Century, Al Ahly are used to being the «big fish» in Egypt and Africa. They go into every tournament aiming for silverware. They have almost 120 years of history, however, the hard realities of talent and resources mean they might struggle in reaching the tournament's knockout rounds.

Though they might not have the individual talent of Palmeiras' Estevao, FC Porto's Samu Aghehowa, or (of course) Inter Miami's Lionel Messi in Group A, they have extensive