The world’s best football clubs will convene in the United States of America in June and July 2025 for FIFA’s new prime club competition. Among the star-studded lineup of talent, one familiar face will return to the global stage—not as a player but as a coach. Kennedy Mweene, a former Zambian goalkeeper who played for Mamelodi Sundowns FC in the 2016 tournament, will now bring his experience and leadership to the sidelines.
The Club World Cup will take place from June 14 to July 13, 2025, across 12 venues that will host 63 matches, with the final set for MetLife Stadium in New York, New Jersey, and the opening match at Miami Hard Rock Stadium.
The global event will bring together the most successful clubs from each of the six international confederations (AFC, CAF, Concacaf, CONMEBOL, OFC, and UEFA), for a total of 32 teams.
Sundowns, Al Ahly FC, Wydad AC, and Espérance Sportive de Tunis will represent the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the World Cup. Each participating team will receive $50 million (approximately ZWK1.4 billion), which will increase as the competition progresses.
Mweene, a former CAF Champions League and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner believes all four clubs representing the continent in the competition have what it takes to compete for the title.
“I think all African representatives are very good teams,” he said in an interview. “When you look at Al Ahly, Wydad, Espérance, and as well as our team [Sundowns], I think these are the teams that compete in the CAF Champions League year in and year out. And they don’t go out in the first round and these teams have a pedigree of playing good football and getting a result.”
High expectations
Sundowns is the most successful football club in South African Premier Soccer League history. They won the 2016 CAF Champions League and the 2017 CAF Super Cup. They were also winners of the inaugural CAF African Football League in 2023.
Additionally, they have won six Nedbank Cups, four MTN 8s, and four Telkom Knockouts and were the first South African team to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup, finishing in sixth place in 2016.
Mweene, who is now the club’s goalkeeper coach, understands the high expectations and hopes that their previous tournament experience will help them in this year’s edition.
“As a team, the expectations are high. It is the second time that we are going to the Club World Cup. The first time we were in Japan in 2016,” the eight-time PSL winner said.
He continued: “The most important thing is that the team shows that we learnt a lot of things when we were there in 2016. It has been a long time since we went to the FIFA Club World Cup. And this time around in the USA, the club has got a lot of expectations.
“We have acquired a lot of new players—it is only Denis [Onyango] and myself who were there. The expectations are for us to do well. I am now the goalkeeping coach and my expectations are that we make sure that it starts with the goalkeepers in the team. It is important that we are very solid, especially at the back. So far so good; we have done well and also in the Champions League. We look stable. We can do better. We’re still continuing to work hard.”
Tough group opponents
Sundowns are in Group F with Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, and Ulsan. They face a daunting task, and Mweene admits that it will not be easy.
“It’s not an easy group. We’ve got Borussia Dortmund, Fluminense, and Ulsan from South Korea. I think the most important thing is for us to take one game at a time,” he said. “And our first game is very important because it sets the tone.”
“We are not leaving any stone unturned. We are trying by all means to the games of teams that are in our group. And look, it won’t be easy, but we are working hard so that we do our best and do well at the World Cup,” Mweene confidently stated.
The revamped Club World Cup will run similarly to the international men’s and women’s World Cup competitions.
The 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four, and they will play each other once in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will then advance to the knockout stage.
The Club World Cup will not have a third-place playoff.
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