After four weeks of intense competition, the newly updated Club World Cup reached its climax with a match between Champions League victors Paris Saint-Germain and Conference League champions Chelsea at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
While many anticipated a victory for the seemingly invincible French powerhouse, Enzo Maresca’s men surprised everyone by running out 3-0 winners.
Both teams suffered one loss in the group phase, each to a Brazilian club, but the Blues needed extra-time to overcome Benfica in the round of 16 before narrowly beating Palmeiras before a more straightforward 2-0 success over Fluminense. As for PSG, a ruthless 4-0 win over tournament hosts Inter Miami was followed by successive meetings against European aristocracy: Bayern Munich were brushed aside before they put the hammer down on Real Madrid, setting up this showdown, which happens to be the first major international final in men’s football between clubs from England and France.
Since the Coupe de France final, PSG have won their last five knockout matches across all competitions with an aggregate score of 18-0. Not many were backing the club from west London, and if anyone was going to be Chelsea’s hero, then Cole Palmer would be it.
An unremarkable group phase saw him accumulate 166 minutes of playing time in which he contributed no goals or assists, but he may have been saving himself for the knockout phase, as the England international picked up his first assist in the bizarre 4-1 extra-time win over Benfica before netting in their Palmeiras success.
Palmer, who contributed two assists in Chelsea’s win over Real Betis in the 2024-25 Conference League final, struck twice in eight minutes — becoming only the third Englishman after Wayne Rooney (2008) and Phil Foden (2023) to score in a Club World Cup final — before teeing up Joao Pedro’s third goal for the Blues in as many appearances. The first half proved to be pivotal, considering how quickly PSG have started some of their games, especially against Real Madrid. Before today, they scored 10 first-half goals in this year’s Club World Cup; only Bayern (11) have more.
Chelsea also maintained their proud record of not conceding a first-half goal in this year’s tournament. In the following 45 minutes, PSG dominated possession with 62% and had a total of six shots, four of which were on target. However, they were unable to get past Robert Sanchez, who made six crucial saves, notably denying Parisian star Ousmane Dembele from close range.
The newly crowned world champions should take pride in keeping the Ballon d’Or frontrunner at bay, especially considering that their defence and Sanchez himself had faced criticism during their tumultuous Premier League campaign. Dembele entered this match with an impressive record of 36 goal involvements in 2025 (27 goals and nine assists), which was at least five more than any other player from Europe’s top five leagues since the beginning of the year.
Joao Neves would be shown a straight red card five minutes from the end. It would be the fourth sending off PSG would have in this competition after Clement Lenglet against Atletico Madrid in the group phase and Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez against Bayern in the quarter-finals, which meant both missed this final.
In the same year, Chelsea made history by becoming the first European club to secure victory in every Uefa-sanctioned competition, including the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup. Only Real Madrid, with five titles, and Barcelona, with three, have claimed the Club World Cup more times than Chelsea, who stand as England’s only club to have won it twice, following their triumph in 2021.
This success, although surprising, was well-deserved, especially considering it came against the reigning European champions. Under Maresca’s guidance, the Blues delivered a masterful performance at MetLife Stadium. They dominated PSG with their sharp attacking play in the first half and exhibited resolute defending after the break.