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Club World Cup Final 2025 - Chelsea 3-0 PSG


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On 10/07/2025 at 09:54, Milan said:

Funny how PSG get to play two supercups, against us as the Conference League winners and then Spurs as the EL winners.

and do not forget the 2nd edition of the newly revived Intercontinental Cup (winning the IC last December is why Real Madrid (they beat Pachuca 3 nil in the final) still have a gold FIFA badge on their kits)

PSG, IF they beat us, would be on course to have the best trophy linear run of any club in football history

they are on track to very likely win (all in a row) 10 straight trophies (or more, and IF they win the CL again and thus likely the 2026 UEFA Super Cup, they will be the first team ever to win a SAME SEASON Septuple, and if France had not ditched their Coupe de Ligue (a secondary domestic cup like our League Cup), it could have been a same season Octuple (this World Club Cup is part of the 2024-25 season, so doesn't count towards the same season record, the only way to get a same season Octuple is to so it 4 years from now, in the 2028-29 seaon, and IF an English club did that, they would, due to our 2nd domestic same season League Cup, in THEORY could do a same season NONTUPLE (9 trophies. all in the same season, which is basically impossible due to the World Club Cup only played once every 4 years, so a team HAS to win back to back CLs, has to win all 3 domestic cups ie Community Shield, League Cup, FA Cup (and has to qualify for the CS via the previous year's efforts) has to win the league, plus win that 2nd in a row CL (the first CL is needws to play in the UEFA Super Cup and the IC) and then, to wrap it up, win the FIFA World Clup Cup. That would make NINE SAME SEASON TROPHIES in 2028-29 (all other Big 5 leagues can only win eight same season trophies in theory in 2028-29)

PSG, In order are tracking to a likely (IF they win Sunday) 10 straight trophies over a 2 season run

(italics are trophies repeated in the run)

1. 2024 Trophée des Champions aka the French Super Cup (played January 5, 2025 in Doha)

2. 2024-25 Ligue 1

3. 2024-25 Coupe de France

4. 2024-25 UEFA Champions League

5. 2025 FIFA World Club Cup

6. 2025 UEFA Super Cup

7. 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup

8. 2025 Trophée des Champions (played in January 2026)

9. 2025-26 Ligue 1

10. 2025-26 Coupe de France

then

IF they win the CL in 2025-2026

they likely keep the streak going, as they will be massive favourites to win the next 5 trophies after that 2nd-in-a-row CL win

11. 2025-26 CL

12. 2026 UEFA Super Cup (new season)

13. 2026 FIFA Intercontinetal Cup

14. 2026 Trophée des Champions (played in January 2027)

15. 2026-27 Ligue 1

16. 2026-27 Coupe de France

 

then we are back to a CL win needed in 2026-27 to keep it all going

 

MADNESS

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_FIFA_Intercontinental_Cup

The 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup will be the second edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, an annual club association football tournament organised by FIFA. The tournament will comprise the six teams that won the previous edition of the continental championships in each FIFA confederation, playing each other in a single-elimination bracket. The last three matches will take place at a neutral venue from 10 to 17 December 2025.

The tournament broadly maintains the format of the previous annual versions of the FIFA Club World Cup, which was expanded and reorganised into a quadrennial tournament with more entrants, with the exception of changes to venues for the initial rounds.

Real Madrid are the defending champions, but they are not able to defend their title after being eliminated by Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League.

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6 hours ago, Vesper said:

The 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup will be the second edition of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, an annual club association football tournament organised by FIFA

I'm not convinced it's correct to say that this will be the second edition. What has been known as the club World Cup in more recent seasons was originally called the Intercontinental Cup. Right from the days when it was a straight match up between the champions of Europe and South America.

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Reaching the final is already an achievement and some nice money too. Didn't Maresca say he plans to play Reece midfield if he goes for a 3 man midfield. Would of course be a huge mistake, Reece is needed to plug that right back spot. Opposing teams seem to always be attacking down there. Anyway his probably going to go for a 3 man attacking midfield which means Caceido and Fernandez will be the 2 centre midfielders. Don't think thats sufficient to counter their midfield.

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33 minutes ago, Bluepower777 said:

Reaching the final is already an achievement and some nice money too. Didn't Maresca say he plans to play Reece midfield if he goes for a 3 man midfield. Would of course be a huge mistake, Reece is needed to plug that right back spot. Opposing teams seem to always be attacking down there. Anyway his probably going to go for a 3 man attacking midfield which means Caceido and Fernandez will be the 2 centre midfielders. Don't think thats sufficient to counter their midfield.

Fitness permitting: -

Sanchez, James, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella, Lavia, Caicedo, Fernandez, Palmer, Pedro, Neto.

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On 11/07/2025 at 12:47, NikkiCFC said:

Hopefully. For years waiting for that positive comment from Bulgaria. 

Yes, we say when something is garbage, we are not as politically correct as the Serbs

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13 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

I'm not convinced it's correct to say that this will be the second edition. What has been known as the club World Cup in more recent seasons was originally called the Intercontinental Cup. Right from the days when it was a straight match up between the champions of Europe and South America.

it's the 2nd edition of the new FIFA Intercontinental Cup

the 1st edition was in 2024, this 2nd edition is in 2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Intercontinental_Cup

The FIFA Intercontinental Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The first edition took place in 2024

 

The old Intercontinental Cup was organized jointly by UEFA and CONMEBOL from 1960–2004. FIFA was not involved, although since 2017, past Intercontinental Cup winners have been recognised by FIFA as club world champions.

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1 hour ago, LAM09 said:

I feel we have a real chance if Caicedo is fit to start, and we are smart about our approach. If we try to take them head on, we'll follow those before us this calendar year.

I so wish Lavia was fit to go, but alas, the glass man has broken again

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Rotation: The key word of Chelsea’s long summer at the Club World Cup

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6484577/2025/07/11/Chelsea-rotation-tactics-club-world-cup/

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Chelsea are no strangers to rotating their squad.

Last season’s Europa Conference League victory alone was built on a starting line-up that was unrecognisable from the weekend’s Premier League fixture, with Enzo Maresca making wholesale changes from one game to another.

Things have not been quite so extreme en route to the Club World Cup final, but there is little doubt that Maresca has been resourceful in calling upon as many players as possible within an ever-growing squad in the United States.

Across the past four weeks, 27 Chelsea players have taken to the field, which is more than any other side competing in the tournament. Across their six games, Chelsea are averaging over four changes to the starting XI per game.

You might rightly point out that they have also simply played more games than many of their rivals, but fellow semi-finalists Fluminense (23), Real Madrid (22) and Paris Saint-Germain (19) do not get near Maresca’s tally.

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That tally stood at 36 players for Chelsea’s Conference League exploits, also the highest among all teams in the competition. It is no secret that Chelsea have got an inflated squad to choose from, but Maresca has managed to rotate his line-up while still maintaining an element of consistency in the performances in getting to Sunday’s final in New York.

“When you play every three days in this competition, you need a big squad,” Maresca said after Chelsea’s semi-final victory over Fluminense.

“But also they have to be ready, and they showed that. They are good players, but we can count on them with how professional they are and this (having a big squad) is something that we need for the future.”

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(Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

But looking to the future is where things start to get a little muddy.

With an upcoming Champions League campaign on the horizon, Chelsea will need to register new players — including Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens — on top of their existing squad.

However, in line with UEFA’s squad registration rules, each team can only register up to 25 players on their “A list”. Notwithstanding the financial implications that UEFA have already imposed on the club, that means that Chelsea will either need to sell players this summer or accept that there will be some high-profile omissions from their European squad for the upcoming campaign with an already-stacked squad.


Returning to on-pitch matters, it is not just Maresca’s flexibility in tweaking personnel, but the rotations of players’ roles that have been equally impressive this summer. In truth, this was a theme of Chelsea last season, but to see it played out within such a condensed summer tournament has been notable by its presence.

As The Athletic analysed last week, Maresca has used this summer as an opportunity to shape shift and experiment with some new tactical ideas in a competitive environment ahead of the new campaign — including a 4-2-2-2 shape against Flamengo.

“In the last two days, we tried something completely different,” Maresca said after their defeat to the Brazilian side. “We played in a different structure today to prepare for next season and have more options.”

While such tweaks are also designed to adapt to the qualities of the opponent, mapping Chelsea’s pass networks across each game underpins the differences in shape and personnel excellently.

Marc Cucurella or Malo Gusto pushing high or tucking in? Pedro Neto starting on the left or right flank? Christopher Nkunku staying wide or… helping to support Chelsea’s build-up (as he did against Fluminense)?

pass_network_Chelsea_FIFA-Club-World-Cup

Some of the tweaks to personnel have been born out of necessity, through suspensions (Nicolas Jackson, Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill and Liam Delap) or injury niggles (e.g. Romeo Lavia and Reece James).

In the case of James’ last-minute absence against Palmeiras after pulling up in the warm-up, that made way for 21-year-old Andrey Santos to make his first competitive start for Chelsea at the base of midfield — giving a good account of himself with neat and tidy passing and a few full-blooded challenges.

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(Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Similarly, Delap’s suspension gave Maresca the opportunity to thrust new signing Joao Pedro in from the start, with the Brazilian international repaying the faith emphatically by scoring a pair of stunning goals to send Chelsea through to the final.

However, plenty of other rotations have been more experimental from Chelsea’s head coach. One notable tweak was Cole Palmer’s starting position on the left side of attack in Chelsea’s last-16 victory over Benfica. Another was James’ inside role as a starting midfielder against Flamengo, which was notably less successful.

Some tweaks have been a little more subtle, but there were plenty on the bingo card in Chelsea’s semi-final clash with Fluminense on Tuesday.

Having started on the left flank, Pedro Neto was able to play on the right side with just as much ease in the second half, as he has repeatedly shown across the season. Noni Madueke is adept at doing the same, arriving on the right wing (with Nkunku himself switching from right to left) before finishing the game on the left during his cameo — as shown below.

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The same was true of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the closing minutes. Having come onto the pitch as a right-winger, the 26-year-old started wide with Palmer inside, but by the end of the game (partly due to Caicedo receiving treatment off the pitch) it was Dewsbury-Hall playing inside as Palmer pushed into a wide area.

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The sweltering conditions will have also been a key factor in Maresca’s decision-making during Chelsea’s time in the United States, often looking to the bench when possible to keep his side fresh until the final whistle.

That is before digging into the widely discussed fixture calendar that European clubs have faced compared with their South American counterparts this summer. For Maresca, rotations have been integral to managing the intensity and load on players after a full season.

“Fluminense have one month off (December 8 to January 12) — our players last had one month holiday in June 2024,” Maresca said on Tuesday.

“There is a different energy between Brazilian teams and European teams, it is because they had a one-month holiday six months ago. Our players last had a one-month holiday 12-13 months ago. It is a huge difference — so the weather conditions plus the difference of calendar make the levels in the team (across continents) very close.”

In the next few months, that elephant in the room of exactly how Maresca will juggle — or rather, register — each member of Chelsea’s squad for their next international games will linger.

For now, whatever happens on Sunday in Chelsea’s final against Paris Saint-Germain, Maresca will have learned a great deal about the flexibility of his squad during their summer in the United States.

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