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Chelsea's FIFA Club World Cup quest: A launchpad for glory
Ahead of their first match at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, DAZN News' Ryan Baldi discusses how the competition could take Chelsea to the next level.
Chelsea arrive at the newly-expanded 2025 FIFA Club World Cup with momentum and ambition, yet also with a point to prove.
Having secured the UEFA Europa Conference League title and a top-five finish in the Premier League, a successful Club World Cup campaign under Enzo Maresca would not only cement his credentials as manager but could also ignite a resurgence for one of England’s most volatile and talent-rich clubs.
For players like Cole Palmer, it’s an opportunity to leap on to the global stage. For the club as a whole, it’s a shot at reclaiming relevance in both Europe and the wider football world.
The FIFA Club World Cup takes on new significance in 2025, with a 32-team format modelled on the FIFA World Cup. Held in the United States, this edition features continental champions and top-performing clubs from across the last four years, bringing together giants from Europe, South America, Asia and beyond.
Chelsea qualified through their 2021 UEFA Champions League win, meaning this is not merely a bonus round after their recent Conference League success, but the culmination of a journey rooted in past glories.
Winning it would place Chelsea among a select group of global champions and offer a valuable international benchmark for Maresca’s young squad.
For Chelsea, success at the Club World Cup would be an international badge of legitimacy – especially valuable for a club trying to convince the world (and perhaps themselves) that their rebuild is not just theoretical.
Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
At the centre of Chelsea’s story is Cole Palmer, whose rapid rise since joining from Manchester City in August 2023 has been one of the Premier League’s most compelling subplots. Viewed initially as a fringe addition, Palmer became Chelsea’s talisman.
In the 2023-24 season, he scored 22 Premier League goals, provided 11 assists and ended as the team’s top scorer in all competitions. His numbers that not only dwarfed expectations but also placed him among Europe’s most productive attackers
“He plays with the arrogance of someone who’s been in the team for a decade,” said Gary Neville on Sky Sports. “He’s not just Chelsea’s best player – he’s one of the best in the league this season.”
At just 22, Palmer’s ceiling is frighteningly high. The Club World Cup offers him a chance to test himself against teams with vastly different tactical approaches; the kind of global proving ground few players get in such an early stage of their career.
A standout tournament in the US could catapult him from domestic darling to international star, a household name not just in England but in every footballing corner of the world.
It’s easy to forget just how unstable Chelsea have been in recent years. Since the departure of Thomas Tuchel in September 2022, the Blues cycled through Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor (interim), Frank Lampard (interim), and Mauricio Pochettino, before appointing Maresca in June 2024.
Across two seasons, they finished 12th and sixth, spent more than £1 billion on new players and often looked like a project lacking identity. Maresca’s appointment, from then-Championship winners Leicester City, was met with raised eyebrows, but his first season has gone a long way toward silencing doubters.
Implementing a possession-heavy style rooted in the principles he developed under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Maresca brought structure to chaos. His Chelsea averaged 59.2 per cent possession – up from 52.1 per cent the previous year – and reduced their goals conceded from 63 to 42 in the Premier League.
His public persona is calm and methodical. “We need to grow together — that’s the project,” he said after their Conference League final win. “We’re not looking to repeat the past, we’re building something new.”
Win the Club World Cup, and he’ll have done more than build. He’ll have laid a foundation for a new Chelsea era, one that replaces volatility with clarity.
Chelsea’s transformation is not only tactical but generational. The squad that won the Conference League final had an average age of just 23.3 years, the youngest in any European final this season.
Players like Noni Madueke, Moises Caicedo, Levi Colwill and Malo Gusto form the backbone of a squad with years of growth ahead.
Where once Chelsea’s strength lay in acquiring top-tier veterans, the current project is unashamedly youth-focused, not merely as a financial hedge but as a philosophical reset. The Club World Cup could be a crucial arena to mature this squad under tournament pressure.
If Chelsea were to lift the Club World Cup, they’d join Manchester United (2008) and Liverpool (2019) as English winners of the tournament. But the achievement could mean even more in the context of their recent trajectory.
It would be their third major international title in four years – after the Champions League in 2021 and the Conference League in 2025 – and perhaps the clearest sign that the chaos of the post-Abramovich era is giving way to something more sustainable.
More importantly, it would set the tone for the 2025-26 season. Chelsea will re-enter the Champions League with confidence, with a young core hardened by high-level experience, and a manager proven on multiple fronts.
A second trophy in Maresca’s debut season would bring validation and direction. For Cole Palmer, it’s a stage to announce himself among football’s elite. And for a young, rapidly developing squad, it offers priceless experience against the best teams on the planet.
In a sport where symbolism matters almost as much as silverware, lifting that golden FIFA trophy in the United States would signal that Chelsea are back – not just buying potential but fulfilling it.
Watch all 63 matches of the 2025 Club World Cup live on DAZN. More information and to sign up for a free account here.
