Auckland City To Face Footballing Giants At FIFA Club World Cup™

Auckland City FC will face some of the biggest clubs in the world at the FIFA Club World Cup™ 2025, having been drawn alongside Bayern Munich, Boca Juniors and SL Benfica in Group C, this morning in Miami.

The tournament, which will now be contested by 32 teams on a quadrennial basis, will be played from June 15 to July 13 in the United States, with Auckland City having qualified due to their performances in the OFC Men’s Champions League over the past four years.

Having recently won the New Zealand National League Championship, Auckland City can now prepare for some of the biggest challenges in the club’s history, with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup format allowing for a minimum of three group stage matches, as opposed to the knockout format used in previous iterations.

Auckland City captain Mario Ilich spoke of his excitement following the draw and the opportunity to face some of the world’s biggest and best.

“To get three powerhouses of football in their respective countries is a pretty unreal feeling to be honest. It was a long morning, waiting for the draw, waiting for pot 4 to come out, but we got there in the end and we’re pretty excited,” Ilich said.

Teammate Ryan De Vries has played in a number of FIFA Club World Cup campaigns but is aware that this expanded format, with more teams, will be on a greater scale than ever before.

“I was lucky that I’ve been able to play professionally before. For a lot of these boys, this will be a massive occasion and to be a part of it, where there’s 40-50,000 fans cheering, the atmosphere, to be a part of that – that’s football,” De Vries said.

Bayern Munich are one of the biggest names in world football, boasting 33 German Bundesliga titles, 20 German Cups and 6 UEFA Champions League titles.

Argentina powerhouse Boca Juniors have a long and illustrious history, with 35 top flight Argentinian titles and 6 Copa Libertadores wins to their name. Some of South America’s greatest ever players have worn the blue and yellow, including Diego Maradona, Carlos Tevez and Juan Román Riquelme.

SL Benfica are another multi-time UEFA Champions League winner, with two titles on their honours board. The Portuguese giants have won their domestic league more times than anyone else and also hold the record for most Portuguese Cup triumphs.

Auckland City will kick-off their campaign against Bayern, before facing Benfica and then Boca Juniors to complete their group stage campaign.

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