Manchester City are aiming to go all the way in the Club World Cup, and that looks like the simplest path for them for next season
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Sport
15:58, 17 Jun 2025
Fans of Manchester City pose for a photo with the FIFA Club World Cup Trophy at the Manchester City club shop at the Etihad Stadium
Manchester City will be competing in the 2025 Club World Cup
Excitement has ramped up around Manchester City's participation in the Club World Cup. There wasn't very much to cheer during a chastening season for Pep Guardiola and his players, but new faces have helped to put smiles back on faces at the Etihad.
Assistants Pep Lijnders and Kolo Toure have been helping Guardiola in Miami to prepare a squad that includes four new signings, giving fresh momentum for City as they prepare for their first game in the summer tournament on Wednesday. Supporters that had been used to groaning every time they saw a teamsheet are now contemplating staying up into the early hours to watch a team from Abu Dhabi if it means another watch of a new-look City.
City have put plenty of eggs into the Club World Cup basket, not only in treating it as a new dawn but also in fully committing to it in the first place. The Premier League have given no relief on the start of next season, meaning the Blues risk workload concerns if, as they intend, they go deep in the knockout tournament.
With just five weeks between the end of the Club World Cup and the opening weekend of the Premier League, City are working their players harder than they would like at this point in the summer and with a World Cup in 12 months it could be a long and brutal year for the squad. On the back of a horrible season for injuries, extra measures will need to be taken to ensure fatigue can be managed and burnout avoided.
What isn't being spoken about as much is that, for all the talk of congestion, City's summer could be emptier than they'd like. They want to go as far as they can in this competition, but what if it is an early exit?
Real Madrid are an expected last-16 opponent for second-place in City's group, and for all the positivity of the last few weeks there are no guarantees over an immediate yield on the pitch. If things don't go to plan, the Blues could be out of the Club World Cup before the beginning of July.
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That would put them in an even more bizarre position than they are now, with all the players having had three weeks of pre-season but seven weeks away from the start of the Premier League and with no more fixtures lined up.
Do they break up again and have a few more weeks of holiday that they were denied by the Club World Cup, or do they just keep ticking over in order to make sure they are ready for the middle of August?
It's something that they will have had to consider in their plans for the summer and the season, it just isn't what anybody wants. For all the complications that the Club World Cup has brought, now City are there it is a lot more simpler for them to go at least close to winning it.
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