Chelsea Men are Champions of 2025 FIFA Club World Cup!

image credits: Getty Images

Majority of the Chelsea fans, and everyone else, didn’t believe right until kick-off in the final that the above title line would become a reality. But that’s how real life is. We never give up, we always fight on, we fire up and revel in the challenge when we are labelled as the second best and that’s how Chelsea Football Club is built. This is how we have won our last few major titles: UCL 2012 against Bayern Munich at their home turf, Europa League in 2019 against Arsenal, UCL 2021 against Manchester City, and not to forget some big teams in knockouts along the way, e.g. FC Barcelona. Against all odds.

Humble Expectations

This global tournament was somewhat opposite in expectations as compared to the Conference League. As I pointed out in my previous blog, Chelsea FC were heavy favourites to win that 3^rd tier continental tournament. But even after winning the Conference League, most of us never thought that we would actually go on to win the Club World Cup too. Realistically speaking, I hoped my club to reach the semis at max. Following are the reasons:

1. Unlike the Conference League, the Club World Cup had world-class teams participating in it. Man City, Juventus, PSG, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and some Brazilian clubs were capable of big upsets.

2. They had fielded their strong teams, experienced players, and some of them also bought new players specifically for the CWC, like how we bought Joao Pedro & Liam Delap.

3. The long season might tire out our players, and they won’t be able to give their best.

4. There were reports that Maresca was considering this tournament as a pre-season preparation for the next season, like some other teams.

Group Stage

There were 8 groups of 4 teams each, and our 3 opponents were: Los Angeles FC of the USA, Flamengo of Brazil, and Esperance de Tunis of Tunisia. Everyone expected us to win all 3 games and top the group. But Flamengo proved my 1^st point above correct. We lost 1-3 to them, partly due to experimental tactics by Maresca and partly due to their inspired 2^nd half performance, esp. by their substitutes. We finished 2^nd in the group behind Flamengo.

Knockouts

Chelsea finishing 2^nd in the group proved to be a blessing in disguise as we got comparatively easy opponents right till the final match! Here’s the table:

image credits: Wikipedia

Due to this, all the Chelsea fans were now sure of our place in the final (barring any upset again by any Brazilian club), and the team proved us correct. We were more worried about which opponent we would get in the final.

Prelude to the Final

After our semi-final, which we won 2-0 against Fluminense of Thiago Silva, almost all Chelsea fans watched the 2^nd semi-final between PSG & Real Madrid. Both were formidable opponents, so we were unsure which one would be easier. The manner in which PSG defeated (destroyed 4-0) Real Madrid, many Chelsea fans in the CISC NM WhatsApp group were negative about Chelsea lifting the title, and some were worried. Only a few were optimistic.

Other people too (pundits, rival fans, etc.) started predicting PSG for the title and writing our obituaries. Many of them opined that it will be the same as the semi-final of PSG, only with Chelsea replacing Real Madrid as the sufferers. They were not wrong. After all, PSG were in red-hot form. They had won the Quadruple: Ligue 1 (with a margin of 19 points!), Coupe de France, Trophée des Champions, and the UCL. In the Club World Cup, they had won 5 out of 6 matches, scoring 16 goals and conceding just 1! Their young and energetic team had gelled together like a formidable hunting unit. All their forwards were in scoring form, esp. Ousmane Dembele, who had scored 35 goals in the season.

Speaking about Chelsea, many fans opined that we badly need Romeo Lavia to counter the gameplay of PSG, but he was injured. Even club captain Recee James was doubtful for the final, as he didn’t play in the semis and quarters due to injury. Then there was the conundrum of the whole final 11. Various fans gave different permutations and combinations, citing various reasons.

13 July 2025

When the playing 11 was announced, many Chelsea fans were surprised. James started as a DM besides Caicedo, as Lavia could only make it to the bench. Gusto, who had an average tournament so far, was our right back. Enzo Fernandez was our 10 (CAM) while Palmer shifted to the right wing, not his best position! Here’s the starting 11 of both teams:

image credits: Wikipedia

With these selected 22 players, it was certain that the game would be a closely fought tactical battle. Maresca had plans to create an upset. But for that, all Chelsea players needed to be at their best for the whole 90 minutes. Hence, we fans were nervous, especially because of the past performances of Sanchez, Gusto, and maybe Chalobah. PSG like to relentlessly press right from their front line, and they maintain a high tempo and energy throughout the 90 minutes.

Explosive Start

Everyone expected PSG to start the game in full attack mode, high energy, high tempo, and pressing. But what happened blew everyone’s mind! Chelsea started in this way! The tactical plan of Maresca was clearly visible from the first minute, and every Chelsea player was displaying it with 100% dedication. Majority of the first 20 minutes were spent in PSG’s half instead of the other way round! We were ruthlessly targeting their left flank. Palmer and Gusto combined multiple times to force Nuno Mendes into errors. Sanchez, instead of building from defenders, was launching long shots in the direction of Mendes and bypassing their talented midfielders. When out of possession, every Chelsea player was man marking a PSG player. In the 7^th minute, Palmer so narrowly missed the net that many at the MetLife Stadium felt he scored. In the 15^th minute, Cucurella made a goal-saving tackle in our box when Doue went to pass the ball to unmarked Achraf Hakimi, who had the empty net to shoot.

The Goals

Sanchez hit a long ball towards Nuno, who stumbled while defending. Gusto took advantage and took it into PSG’s box, hit a shot, but it was blocked. Then he hit the rebound towards the oncoming Palmer, who slotted precisely (sacrificing power) in the bottom left corner in the 22^nd minute. PSG fans were in shock while Chelsea fans erupted in joy.

In the 30^th minute after receiving a long ball from Colwill, Palmer raced to the edge of PSG’s box, sold a dummy first, then scored in the same fashion as his first goal in the same corner to make it 2-0. Palmer again showed the world what a special & generational player he was. Chelsea fans all over the world, including our CISC NM group, went crazy like no words! Many said that this is it, now we should defend resolutely. But wait, our players wanted more.

In the 43^rd minute, in yet another attacking move, Palmer slid in a pass through 2 PSG defenders for Joao Pedro, who then coolly dinked the ball over the oncoming Donnarumma. Many non-Chelsea people were stunned in disbelief, like thinking, what’s happening here? Uno reverse? Is this a dream?

Action packed 2^nd Half & we Win

We knew that PSG would try to come hard at us in the 2^nd half, but our players responded to everything that was thrown at them. Our defence and mids broke every attacking pass of PSG, made crucial tackles, played like their life depended on it! We attacked too. Donnarumma made 2 spectacular saves from substitute Liam Delap. In this end-to-end game, PSG players were getting frustrated; this culminated in the red card to Joao Neves in the 85^th minute as he pulled the awesome long hairs of Cucurella. After that, it was just a formality. With each passing minute, our celebrations increased, and we let it all out after the full-time whistle. We demolished, destroyed, and dismantled PSG 3-0. Even though it was 2:45 am in India, Chelsea fans here were more alive than they could be in the morning. Against all odds, our beloved club has just become a WORLD CHAMPION.

It was the “Cherry on the cake”, the “Sone pe suhaga”, after our Conference League title. Our season went from good to extraordinary! Just a month ago, we had won it all, but again, here I say, we won it all! Twice “Club World Cup” champions, once in the old format, once in this new format; the first winners of the new one. The huge, golden, glitzing, and spherical trophy was presented to captain James by none other than the POTUS: Donald Trump. With this win, Chelsea also banked about $131+ million, which includes participation money, performance bonuses for winning each match, and the champion reward. Most of the CISC NM fans stayed awake even till 3:45 am, just to watch the whole presentation ceremony & more precious moments.

Superb Performances

Throughout the tournament, and especially in the final, many of our players shone. Neto scored 3 crucial goals early in the tourney, Delap made an instant impact with a goal after signing, and Andrey Santos played awesome after starting his 1^st match (QF). Cucurella, Caicedo, and Enzo Fernandez were at their best in all the matches. Joao Pedro? Well, he was chilling on a beach just a week before the final. Then he signed for us, started the semis, scored 2 goals, and scored 1 in the final! Who else does that other than a world-class player?

Robert Sanchez and Gusto were just okayish till the semis, but man, they turned up like supermen in the final. Sanchez made some crucial saves and earned the clean sheet. He also didn’t commit any errors like his usual self. He won the Golden Glove award! Gusto defended like Azpilicueta – the warrior, and attacked like Alonso – the ‘would have been’ striker. Cole Superstar Palmer did what he does regularly – showing up in the big games. Like the final of the Conference League, he scored 1 in the quarters, assisted 1 in the semis, scored 2 in the final and assisted 1. He was rightfully named the man of the match of the final and won the Golden Ball of the Tournament. Players who were awarded, all by Trump:

image credits: Wikipedia

Summing it up

I went to sleep at 3:45 am, but still couldn’t sleep for an hour, always thinking about the match, the outrageous performance where we did to PSG what they did to teams all season long. Surely many Chelsea fans felt this, including the realization that we are now the WORLD CHAMPIONS for 4 years! Chelsea players will now proudly wear this golden badge on their jerseys between the Nike logo & club crest for 4 seasons! Every time a team plays against Chelsea, they will be reminded throughout the 90 minutes that they are playing against a reigning World Champion, World Conqueror team.