Chelsea vs Los Angeles FC

Groups in the 2025 Club World Cup are all open with both teams who have won the cup clashing in Group D in Atlanta on Monday 13th August at the Mercedes-Benz stadium against Chelsea and Los Angeles FC.

Since the conclusion of the Champions League final in the 2020-21 season, when the final whistle went, it was only a matter of time before Chelsea booked their place in the current edition of the Club World Cup; after taking over the continent in both the primary and tertiary sense over the last four seasons.

Now, after the hoisting of the largest European trophy of all of them above the Blues, there was also a new UEFA history page written, as the team is the first to win all four main tournaments in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, as well as the Super Cup.

The finale of an otherwise triumphant debut season in charge, an outburst against Real Betis in the Conference League final was a brilliant finish by the head coach Enzo Maresca who, when he took the West London giants back to Champions League, might have exceeded expectations attributed to his early-season recruitment.

The capital giants have a 50 percent success rate in the two previous appearances at the Club World Cup event and finishing the 2024-25 campaign with eight wins out of nine matches in all tournaments was almost ideal preparation to their third event in the tournament.

Being the holders of the Champions League, Chelsea won the 2021 22 and defeated Palmeiras in extra time in the finale, but their first competition in 2013 was the defeat of the Blues by another Brazilian titan, Corinthians.

The West London giants will have to get through another Brazilian side in Flamengo incidentally just to get out of Group D, and another surprise package, Tunisian side Esperance de Tunis will want to pull off a giant killing against both Chelsea and their next opponents.

The Conference League champions and the US Open Cup winners, who had to travel a special picturesque route to get into the home competition, square off in the first match.
Prior to Mexican team Leon, the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League winners, being kicked out of the competition for breaking FIFA's multi-club ownership regulations, LAFC was scheduled to watch the Club World Cup from home.

The MLS team's 2-1 victory in extra time sealed their ticket to their first-ever Club World Cup appearance, and LAFC and Club America faced off in a winner-take-all play-in match for the final slot among the 32.

The defending US Open Cup champions have been gaining momentum for a few weeks now. On June 9, they defeated Sporting Kansas City 3-1 in Major League Soccer to extend their winning streak to 10 games across all competitions. In each of those games, they have scored at least twice.

Domestic triumphs may take a backseat to an exciting - and intimidating - Club World Cup debut, but Steven Cherundolo's team still has nine points to catch up to the Vancouver Whitecaps at the top of the Western Conference standings.