FC Barcelona has a new objective in this edition of the Champions League. The culé team needs, at a minimum, to reach the semifinals of the Champions League to qualify for the 2025 Mundialito. Even so, it does not depend on itself, since its competitor, Atlético de Madrid, must be eliminated in the round of 16 against the Inter so that it helps Barça to be one of the four best in Europe.
FIFA has issued an online program to find out the teams that have already qualified for the next Club World Cup and the situation in which the rest of the clubs in the different confederations find themselves. Currently, FC Barcelona is in twelfth place, with 56 points.
UEFA teams have 12 places available, of which the holder of eight is already known. Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City, for being champions of the last three editions of the Champions League, and Bayern, PSG, Inter, Porto and Benfica, for being located at the top of the ranking.
Of those 12 places, UEFA grants two to each country, that is, Real Madrid, Barça and Atlético cannot qualify for the same edition of the Club World Cup, unless all three have won a Champions League in the last four years. This causes the colchoneros and azulgranas to compete for last place in Spain. Right now, that place would go to ‘Cholo’, since they have six points more than the Catalan team (62 points).
Each victory in the competition means two points for the winning team, one point in the event of a tie, and zero for the losing team. Additionally, if the team passes the phase they get an extra point. Therefore, Barça needs to beat Naples in Montjuïc and for Atlético to be eliminated against Inter. The Barça team would cut three points (two for the victory and one for moving to the quarterfinals), so they would need to advance one more round, that is, reach the semifinals.
The disadvantage for the Catalans is that they do not depend on themselves. If Atlético beats the Nerazzurri team, Barça would be forced to go to the final and the Colchonero team will be eliminated in the quarterfinals. In the event of a tie on points between the red and whites and the blue and whites, FC Barcelona would be the qualified team, since it would have achieved more points in this edition.
The 2025 Club World Cup, to be held in the United States, will be the first in which 32 teams participate. This change, carried out by FIFA, seeks to generate interest in a competition that has been on the decline in recent years. In addition, it would mean a considerable increase in the income of the participating clubs. Currently, playing the Mundialito allows you to win one million euros, however, with the new format the teams will pocket 50.
