Manchester City discover FIFA Club World Cup opponents following completed draw

Manchester City will face either Urawa Red Diamonds or Club Leon in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals in December.

The Blues qualified for the tournament after winning the UEFA Champions League in June. Rodri scored the only goal of the match against Inter to secure Europe’s top trophy for the first time.

By winning the competition, City have qualified for their maiden Club World Cup and will compete against the other federations’ Champions League winners as well as the champions of the host nation Saudi Arabia, Al Ittihad, for the prestigious trophy. On merit of winning UEFA’s Champions League, the Blues automatically qualified for the semi-finals alongside the Copa Libertadores’ eventual champions.

City and the South American champions are kept separate in the semi-final meaning the Blues could have been drawn against any of the other teams in the tournament. These included; Al-Ittihad, Auckland City, Urawa Red Diamonds, Al-Ahly and Club Leon.

Pep Guardiola now knows that Japan’s Urawa Reds or Mexico’s Club Leon stand in the way of him and a place in the final. Should Guardiola lead City to the Club World Cup, it will be the fourth time he has won the competition as a coach having lifted the trophy twice with Barcelona and once with Bayern Munich.

The current holders of the Club World Cup are Real Madrid who won the tournament in 2022. At this stage, we do not know exactly when City will be playing in the finals but the competition will run from Tuesday, December 12 to Friday, December 22.