SOME people are surprised that Brazil’s representatives in the FIFA Club World Cup are faring very well, with all four clubs making it into the last 16. In their 12 games so far, only once, Atlético Madrid’s 1-0 win against Botafogo, has the South American side been beaten. The weather may be suiting them, their players may be in prime condition given the timing of their league season, but Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain will both vouch for the determined approach of Flamengo and Botafogo. Brazil has certainly pulled away from the rest of South American football at club level; they have provided the last six winners of the Copa Libertadores, which just happens to include the four teams that are still in the Club World Cup. And this year, five of the last 16 in the Libertadores are from Brazil. There’s been an improvement on the field of play, but there is a rising level of professionalism within the administration and marketing of the league. Since 2018, attendances have gone up by 28% and Flamengo have been averaging almost 55,000. The four remaining teams in the Club World Cup are essentially packed with Brazilians. There are, of course, foreigners from the South American continent, but they average 73% home players. Reports suggest that star players are being drawn back to Brazil, but the more accurate assessment is that clubs are attracting veterans like Danilo (33), Alex Sandro (34), Thiago Silva (40), Alex Telles (32) and Allan (34). The average age of Brazil’s top flight is 28.4 years with Fluminense over 30 and Flamengo not far behind (29.2). Botafogo and Palmeiras average 26.7 and 26.2 respectively.
EURO 2025: Spain and Germany favourites
THE European Championship has a very familiar look about it; 14 of the 16 who competed in England in 2022 are back again, with Wales and Poland making their tournament debuts. Spain, the world champions, are highly-fancied and Germany, who have won seven out of the last 10 EUROs, will surely be knocking on the door once more. As for England, they have a mature team that will not let their title go easily. The talk of a series of setbacks to Sarina Wiegman when Mary Earps and Frank Kirby announced their international retirement, followed by the withdrawal of Millie Bright from contention were overblown – Earps was not in possession of the number one shirt and Kirby was at the end of her time with England and retired after being told she didn’t figure in Wiegman’s plans. Bright may not have been first choice, either. However, the team may be past its best – Wiegman may have to deal with more retirements when EURO 2025 is over – and Spain are hovering in the background to take their crown. The hosts, Switzerland, may have home advantage, but it is unlikely they will win the competition. Their high-profile forward, Alisha Lehmann, has been criticised for her over-concentration on nurturing celebrity status and this may cost her a starting place. Poland are involved for the first time and they may have the best striker on view in Ewa Pajor, who scored 43 goals in 47 appearances for Barcelona in 2024-25 season. Pajor is Poland’s skipper and has scored 68 goals in 101 games for her country. They are not expected to last the distance and the probable winner will come from the Spain, Germany, England triumvirate, with Sweden and the Netherlands having a say in matters. The fans that travel to Switzerland will have no better place to watch football in the summer.
Club Review: Liverpool – champions as Arne slots in nicely
DISRUPTION was on the cards for Liverpool as their charismatic manager, Jürgen Klopp departed at the end of 2023-24, but the Anfield regulars need not have worried. Liverpool were comfortable Premier League champions in a season in which Manchester City took their eye off the ball. Their team was little-changed and Arne Slot, their new coach, seemed to let the tools do the work for him. The campaign was punctuated with talk about a mini exodus at the end of May as key players – Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah – came to the end of their contracts. This didn’t distract the team and Liverpool breathed a sigh of relief as only one, the home-grown Trent, announced he was off to Madrid. Slot’s men went top in late September and apart from a one-week lapse, they took up residence for the rest of the season, finishing 10 points ahead of second-placed Arsenal. They were very impressive at times but there were setbacks, such as a FA Cup shock defeat at Plymouth, the 2-1 loss at Wembley to Newcastle in the EFL Cup and a round of 16 exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. They clinched the title with a 5-1 thrashing of Spurs at the end of April, but the run-in was inconsistent, with three wins and three defeats in the last eight games. The hard work had already been done, however, so Liverpool got their 20th title to draw level with Manchester United.
ONE WEEK in and it is becoming increasingly obvious the FIFA Club World Cup has the most appeal to the South Americans, both on and off the pitch. Perhaps that isn’t too surprising given the enthusiasm shown by Argentinian and Brazilian clubs for the various formats of the Club World Cup and its predecessors. While the European teams have often regarded any such competition or play-off as glorified friendlies, the South Americans have been eager to show their counterparts across the Atlantic that, despite enjoying less publicity and profile than Europe’s top clubs, they have skill, guile and technique in abundance.
Artur of Botafogo celebrates the victory after the match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Botafogo FR at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, LA, USA, on June 19., 2025 (Photo by Federico Peretti/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Artur of Botafogo celebrates the victory after the match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Botafogo FR at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, LA, USA, on June 19., 2025 (Photo by Federico Peretti/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
From the perspective of the value of players and the spending potential of the clubs, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea should not have been beaten by the Brazilian duo Botafogo and Flamengo. PSG’s squad that played against Botafogo cost € 600 million compared to the € 60 million it took to assemble the players fielded by Botafogo. This was a meeting of the UEFA Champions League winners against the Copa Libertadores holders, a pairing that normally results in a win for the European team. The last time the old format Club World Cup was won by the CONMEBOL representative was in 2012.
The weather may have something to do with some lack-lustre displays. The US cities involved in the competition have been recording some very high temperatures and overall, the June average among these locations is usually north of 30 degrees Celsius. By comparison, London, Paris, Munich and Madrid are around 10 degrees cooler at this time of year. However, the US weather is hotter than the average for both Rio Janeiro and Buenos Aires, so it is not entirely reasonable to blame the weather. Moreover, home advantage hasn’t really helped the US teams, who have looked quite poor – with the exception of 1/11th of the Inter Miami line-up.
What is very relevant is the time of year for playing football. Argentina’s league is currently in mid-term between the Apertura and Clausura stages of their campaign, while Brazil is around a third of the way through their 2025 season. In other words, their players are at a certain stage of their peak fitness while the Europe teams have endured a long programme and would normally be having a breather before resuming pre-season training. The football at the Club World Cup has been quite pedestrian at times and players have looked a little fatigued. The 12 European sides do have 41 South Americans in their squads and Brazil and Argentina have the most representatives among the 32 participant clubs – 141 and 103 respectively.
Europe’s mixed start may also be attributable to morale and a lack of motivation. It’s competition that has not exactly been welcomed with open arms and the rather tacky player presentations and pre-match nonsense is all rather embarrassing. Some clubs, such as Inter Milan and Benfica, have turned up in the US after disappointing ends to their seasons. Others – Real Madrid, Manchester City and Porto – ended 2024-25 without a trophy of any sort. The players are constantly being told via the media, social media and pundits, that this is a meaningless venture and some may even feel that it is not the best tiume to visit the US. Many may see it is a vanity project for Gianni Infantino.
Perhaps the clubs needed to acclimatise before the first competitive game, but the gap between the end of the domestic season and the start of the CWC was relatively small. They will, of course, adjust, but there will surely be a hangover when the 2025-26 season gets underway. We wait for the first excuse that the players are exhausted come August.
IT has taken Union Saint-Gilloise 90 years to win the Belgian league, but Napoli picked up their second title in three years in Italy. Meanwhile, it was the end of an era for Real Madrid, who waved goodbye to coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Napoli: Conte’s uncomfortable magic works
AFTER a poor defence of their 2023 scudetto, Napoli bounced back and won their second league title in three years, without European distractions for the first time since 2010. They appointed Antonio Conte as coach in the summer of 2024 and despite going down 3-0 at Verona in their first Serie A game, they lost just four times all season and finished one point ahead of Inter Milan. Napoli spent heavily in 2024-25, bringing in Scott McTominay of Manchester United for € 30.5 million, Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea (€ 30m), Torino’s Alessandro Buongiorno (€ 35m) and Benfica’s David Neres (€ 28m). McTominay had an outstanding season and was named Serie A’s most valuable player. Lukaku also had a good campaign, scoring 14 goals. They lost once in their last 16 games, but Napoli seemed to have difficulty finishing teams off, drawing eight times in that run. This may have been partially due to the loss of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who was sold to Paris Saint-Germain for € 80 million in January 2025. However, they clinched the title in their final game, a 2-0 victory against Cagliari at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Real Madrid: In need of a reset?
ALTHOUGH Real Madrid were chasing the league title for much of the season, they never truly convinced in 2024-25. They signed Kylian Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain and for a short while, he didn’t seem to for comfortably into Carlo Ancelotti’s side. However, he went on to score 43 goals in all competitions. Jude Bellingham’s haul was less impressive than in his debut season, but he netted 14 goals. Real did hit the top of the table briefly, but Barcelona finished four points ahead of them. Barca were the first team to beat Real in the league, a 4-0 victory in the Bernabéu at the end of October. Real were also beaten in the final of the Copa del Rey by their old rivals. Their Champions League campaign was disappointing and they lost three of their eight league phase games. They eventually reached the last eight, but lost 5-1 on aggregate to Arsenal. A number of clumsy defeats prevented Real from closing the gap on Barca, including setbacks at home to Valencia and away losses at Betis, Bilbao and Espanyol. There was increasing doubts about Ancelotti’s future, and in the final weeks, it was revealed that Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso would replace him, while Ancelotti himself would take the Brazil national team job. Luka Modrić, their popular veteran midfielder, also announced his departure, leaving after the Club World Cup.
Union Saint-Gilloise: A long time coming
USG brought the Belgian title to Brussels for the first time in eight years and ended a 90-year wait for their 12th championship. It was a strange win, for USG finished 13 points behind Genk in the first phase of the Belgian Pro League. They ended nine ahead of Genk after the second stage in which USG were unbeaten with nine wins in 10 and conceded just three goals. Brugge finished in second place, three points behind USG, who beat them 1-0 in a vital game at the end of April. USG were majority-owned by Brighton’s Tony Bloom, but he now has just a minority holding in the club. The club’s European season was mixed, although they did reach the Europa play-off round after finishing 21st in the league phase. Canadian striker Promise David scored 24 goals in 2024-25 and was a target for a long line of clubs, but the 23 year-old recently signed a new contract with USG to end any speculation.