FIFA Club World Cup: John Obi Mikel tips breakout stars to emerge

Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel believes the FIFA Club World Cup will see a number of rising stars shoot to prominence and potentially secure a big-money move.

The eagerly-awaited tournament in the US – with every game shown live on DAZN – is the biggest and most lucrative Club World Cup ever.

Chelsea, fresh from qualifying for next season’s Champions League and winning the Conference League, will aim to become Club World Cup champions for the second time.

Former Blues midfielder Mikel, who enjoyed a trophy-laden career at Stamford Bridge, told talkSPORT: “I think we know exactly what we’re going to get – most of the teams are going to compete and bring their big guns.

“Chelsea, of course, I’d like to see us go with our big guns – Cole Palmer, [Moises] Caicedo and [Enzo] Fernandez.

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“I’d like to see all these guys competing in this tournament because it’s tournament with 32 teams from different continents – Africa, Asia, South America – who are all going to be competing to win this amazing tournament.

“We love watching football don’t we? This is a great tournament for football fans and you can watch it on your iphone, tablet, computer and TV.

“There are some great match-ups with some smaller teams going up against the big boys.

“Teams from Africa who never expected to go up against the likes of Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Paris St-Germain and Man City.

“You have teams like Boca Juniors playing against Bayern Munich and we never thought we’d see games like that – but that’s what this tournament gives you.

“And in terms of prize money, if you go all the way you can get £100million and that’s a lot of money for any club!

“It’s a huge amount of money and gives you a massive advantage over teams who didn’t compete in the tournament.”

Mikel believes that prize money will arm Club World Cup participants with funds to bolster their squad.

“If you have £100million going into the transfer window then imagine what you can do with that to improve your squad,” he explained.

“So it’s not just significant for the lesser teams but also the bigger teams.

“It’s a huge, huge tournament to be proud of and this is the world’s biggest stage to showcase their talent.

“This is a tournament where you might get a player come on the world stage and announce himself to the world and say ‘here I am, I want to be the main star in this tournament’.

“The transfer window is around the corner and big clubs might be looking and thinking ‘there’s a player who we could sign’.”

Watch all 63 matches of the 2025 Club World Cup live on DAZN.   More information and to sign up for a free account here.