Seven players (and one manager) to watch in the 2025 Club World Cup

The Club World Cup is set to debut its new format in the upcoming weeks and brings a variety of players to look out for.

After roughly 18 months without a Club World Cup match, the tournament is about to return in a completely different way. What was once a quick 10-day cup reuniting only the champions from each continent is now exactly what the name says: a World Cup for clubs – 32 of them distributed in eight groups, just like we’ve seen for national teams since 1998 (though the next one will feature 48).

The competitiveness hasn’t really been there in a while, with the last non-European champions coming in 2012, when Brazilian side Corinthians defeated Chelsea. Still, it’s a good opportunity for players from lesser teams to show their talents and convince the bigger clubs to sign them. Here are seven of them – though we’ll start with two that don’t fit this mold.

Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

Current Club World Cup champion from the 2023 edition, despite missing the tournament through injury, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland finds himself in a similar situation now, having just recovered from ankle issues that sidelined him for over a month between March and May.

The 2024-25 season was somewhat underwhelming for the Norwegian striker – for his patterns, at least, with “just” 22 goals in 31 games in the Premier League. The feeling was the same for the Citizens themselves, who finished third in the league table after four consecutive titles while also losing to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final.

This is the perfect opportunity for Haaland and City to bounce right back from a disappointing year, with a chance for silverware come the middle of July. The forward showed good signs on the final matchday, scoring a penalty against Fulham to end a three-game goal drought – it may not seem much, but it was his largest since a four-match run without scoring in December.

Lionel Messi (Inter Miami)

It’s not like Lionel Messi needs to prove anything to anyone – especially at this point in his career. The soon-to-be 38-year-old has already cemented himself as, at least, one of the five greatest players of all time (ranking in any position depending on who you ask).

Even performing well overall in the MLS and leading Inter Miami to winning the 2024 Supporter’s Shield (best regular season campaign regardless of conferences), the Argentinian legend didn’t have enough to push his team past the first round of the playoffs last year, while missing the post-season completely in 2023 (though he did arrive in the middle of the year).

North-American teams have been more successful recently in the CONCACAF Champions Cup than ever before, with the Seattle Sounders even winning it all in 2022 and the Vancouver Whitecaps set to take on Mexican side Cruz Azul in this year’s finals. This is a golden opportunity for Messi to win the biggest title for any MLS franchise in what will be the first truly competitive context for him in roughly a year, since winning the 2024 Copa América with Argentina 11 months ago.

Estêvão (Palmeiras)

The Brazilian wonderkid also doesn’t really fit the bill of players from lesser clubs trying to prove their talent, since he’s already signed for Chelsea.

Still, the 18-year-old will certainly want to show his new bosses that he deserves to at least be in the Blues squad next season instead of being shipped out on loan, like many (most, let’s be honest) Chelsea youngsters.

He has been Palmeiras’ best player – or the most feared, at least – basically since his professional debut. But he could use a good set of performances in his final matches for his boyhood club to get rid of the “small-game player” label he’s received after not exactly shining in big derbies or decisive matches.

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Franco Mastantuono (River Plate)

Franco Mastantuono hasn’t even turned 18 yet and is already far and away River Plate’s best and most creative player. The 17-year-old has bagged four goals and two assists in his last seven games and hasn’t had a bad game in what seems like forever.

He leads the Millonarios both in goals (7) and assists (4) this season and is responsible for most of what they do in the attacking half of the pitch. Every single big club already probably has their eyes on him, but the whole world could meet his talent in the next few weeks.

Igor Jesus (Botafogo)

The Botafogo striker has been rumoured to make a switch to the Premier League following interest from Nottingham Forest. The Club World Cup would be the biggest test of his young career, after helping his team win the Brazilian Serie A and the Libertadores in 2024.

Igor Jesus was left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s first Brazil call-up, but had been a regular with former manager Dorival Júnior. Considering his ability to act as a target-man, win duels and pin defenders on his back, it’s easy to see why Forest, who currently employ Chris Wood as their main number nine, would be interested in him.

His last match for Botafogo was a heroic one, not only scoring the goal that put his team in the knock-out rounds of the Libertadores, but also leading in shot attempts (4), touches in the opponent box (6), on-ball touches (62), take-ons completed (5) and duels won (15).

Dorgeles Nene (Red Bull Salzburg)

Red Bull Salzburg have produced a lot of talents in the last few years and Dorgeles Nene could be their best currently. Even though they missed out on the title, the 22-year-old Malian winger shined with 13 goals (the second-most of any player) and four assists.

He hasn’t gone two games without a goal involvement since February and ended the season on a high, scoring five times and assisting once in his final five matches. Manchester United are rumoured to have been following him for the past few months and could have a lot of competition depending on how he performs in the Club World Cup.

Wesley (Flamengo)

Brazil’s most promising right-back, Wesley is enjoying a strong season at Flamengo. He made his debut for the national team earlier in March and is certain to have a bright future.

The 21-year-old has been excelling under manager Filipe Luís, hugging the touchline and making overlapping runs or dropping deep and to central corridors to help in the build-up.

The upcoming tournament could be the opportunity of his lifetime to show big European clubs that he’s worth the investment and could solve the right-back position for any team for years to come.

Bonus: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)

Xabi Alonso has proved himself as one of the best managers in the world following his legendary stint at Bayer Leverkusen, which got him a move to Real Madrid for next season.

It all starts with the Club World Cup, which will likely act as a sort of pre-season for him, to get to know his squad and the new signings better. He’s mostly used a three-at-the-back set with the Germans and probably won’t even have three healthy centre-backs in his new club, for perspective.

The leap from Leverkusen to Madrid is a big yet tricky one, and it will be a fun experience to watch how the former midfielder deals with the elevated talent (plus egos), a unique tactical system that Carlo Ancelotti left behind after taking over the Brazil national team and all of the challenges that come with it.

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