Club World Cup Soccer Betting Preview
The FIFA Club World Cup, pitching the best each continent has to offer, has been an annual tournament since 2000, but this year it is super-sized! This weekend sees the beginning of a month-long competition with 32 soccer teams from six confederations doing battle.
Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC will be representing MLS as they rub shoulders with several European powerhouses, as well as Palmeiras from Brazil, the Saudi representative Al-Hilal, and Argentina’s Boca Juniors and River Plate.
So let us start by trying to pick out the winner. The top 10 in the market are all from Europe, no surprise there given that the trophy has been lifted in each of the last 11 years by a team from that continent. Germany’s Bayern Munich twice, three different English sides, and on six occasions by a Spanish outfit.
Real Madrid was responsible for five of those wins. They are the +400 favorites ahead of kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium this Saturday. They are marginally ahead of Paris St. Germain (+500), who have understandably attracted massive support since their emphatic 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
The Spanish giants fell short in the league this season, as well as in the Copa del Rey and Champions League—comprehensively beaten by Arsenal in that competition. With legendary boss Carlo Ancelotti leaving to take charge of Brazil, Xabi Alonso will begin his tenure here. Enough reasons to fade Los Blancos.
It wouldn’t surprise me to see PSG add this global crown to their European one. However, they are now plenty short enough. With the tricky Atlético Madrid also sharing a place in Group B, their prospects of heading to the round of 16 as table toppers isn’t a given, so again, I am happy to fade.
I feel a new tournament at the end of another long season calls for a more speculative selection to be its winner. Therefore, I have landed on Germany’s Borussia Dortmund at (+2500).
Dortmund looked set for an abysmal season, struggling to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages and in the bottom half of Bundesliga. Things were so bad, head coach Nuri Şahin was sacked after just 27 competitive fixtures of which he lost 11.
After appointing Niko Kovač as Şahin’s replacement, BVB have been in electric form. Winning 12 of his 20 games in charge, including eight of their last 10 and all the last six across all competitions.
That sequence saw a victory over Bundesliga runners-up Bayer Leverkusen, managed then by Alonso, an impressive 3-1 defeat of La Liga Champions Barcelona, who are not in attendance here, and a creditable 2-2 tie at German champions Bayern Munich. That good run of form was enough to secure a top-four league finish and Champions League soccer next season, proof this group of players can perform when the pressure is on.
What I like about this selection is the potential route to the quarterfinals. Their Group F rivals are Fluminense, who, when the Brazilian season ended in December, were only four points clear of relegation and have started the new campaign inconsistently. The section is made up by Korean side Ulsan and South African side Mamelodi Sundowns, both several levels beneath the German side’s usual opposition.
Should, as expected, Kovač guide his side to the top spot, their last 16 fixture would come against the runners-up of Group E. That is expected to be either River Plate or Monterrey, should group favourites Inter Milan take care of business.
A side that finished in the last eight of the Champions League this term and were beaten finalists in 2024 have proven they like this format and can go deep. They seem a little disrespected in the market and priced up over their season’s work rather than what they produced since the arrival of their experienced Croatian head coach.
