Despite their season ending early in a shock play-off defeat to Atalanta United, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Inter Miami fans.
The team still had a somewhat successful season when they broke the regular season points record and won the Supporters Shield which has provided them a history-making opportunity.
The Herons will be making their debut in the newly revamped FIFA Club World Cup which will take place between the 15th of June and the 13th July 2025.
New boss Javier Mascherano will be looking to lead Inter Miami to success in the exciting competition having recently been appointed manager following the departure of Tito Martino.
The club’s inclusion in the competition is not without controversy though following their early play-off exit. CBS Sports journalist Ian Paul Joy tweeted after Inter Miami’s play-off defeat to Atlanta: “This result makes the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup selection a complete embarrassment. Nobody cares about Supporters shield!”
With the controversy out of the way let’s take a look at the key details ahead of the draw.
When is the Club World Cup draw?
The new look FIFA Club World Cup will have many fans and co-owner David Beckham excited for what this could mean for their teams The first stage of the tournament is the draw itself and that is yet to take place.
The draw will take place on Thursday 5th December in Miami and will be free to view across FIFA’s channels, including the website and FIFA+, FIFA’s streaming service. The draw will start at 13:00 local time (19:00 CET).
What is the Club World Cup format?
After very little success from the old tournament format FIFA has decided to give the competition a revamp and it has certainly drawn some attention.
Previously the tournament was only made up of seven teams, this has now been drastically increased to 32. This means that there will be more teams from each of the six international football confederations at the Club World Cup.
The tournament itself will run very much like a FIFA World Cup in that there will be eight groups of four who will play each other in a round-robin format. The top two teams will progress to the knockout stages where teams will one-by-one whittle away until we have a final.
The only notable difference to the World Cup is that there will be no third-place play-off.
Who could Lionel Messi and Inter Miami face in the Club World Cup?
Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi will be looking to put on a show on the biggest stage once more as he looks to lead Inter Miami to a potentially surprising Club World Cup win.
Inter Miami target James Rodriguez could also feature for the club during the tournament if a deal is struck for the Colombian.
The four pots that will dictate the draw have already been revealed and Inter Miami have been placed in pot four, the lowest of the seeds.
Pot 1: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate, Fluminense
Pot 2: Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, Salzburg
Pot 3: Al Hilal, Ulsan, Al Ahly, Wydad, Monterrey, Club Leon, Boca Juniors, Botafogo
Pot 4: Urawa Red Diamonds, Al Ain, Esperance Sportive de Tunisie, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders, Auckland City, Inter Miami
This means that it is likely Inter Miami will be facing some pretty tough opponents in their group with the likes of Messi’s former club PSG and current Champions League holders Real Madrid a very real possibility.
Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders, the two teams representing the MLS, will not be drawn together as they are both sitting in pot four.