The reigning champion of South America and a recent holder of that honor for North America have been drawn together at the Club World Cup — and both are projected to be the four-team section’s underdogs. How’s that for a Group of Death?
Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid join Botafogo and the Seattle Sounders to form Group B, surely the deepest quartet of the eight in the tournament. Will there be a post-Champions League final hangover for PSG? Will Diego Simeone’s steely side relax a bit on their Stateside summer vacation? Can either team from the Americas upset the European behemoths?
Here, The Athletic picks out the group favorites, the fun facts, and the storylines to watch.
Fixtures
(All kick-offs ET/BST)
June 15: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Atletico Madrid (3pm/8pm)
June 15: Seattle Sounders vs. Botafogo (10pm/3am June 16)
June 19: Seattle Sounders vs. Atletico Madrid (6pm/11pm)
June 19: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Botafogo (9pm/2am June 20)
June 26: Seattle Sounders vs. Paris Saint-Germain (3pm/8pm)
June 26: Atletico Madrid vs. Botafogo (3pm/8pm)
The favorite is…
Paris Saint-Germain has been relevant and opulent since Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) took over in 2011. Now, it better resembles a proper club instead of a superteam, with young French up-and-comers supporting a batch of headliners who look more selfless than the Lionel Messi-Kylian Mbappe-Neymar troika ever did.
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Before this season, few teams were more antonymous with PSG than “a capable front-line press”. A penchant for recruiting the game’s star forwards came at the cost of the team’s advanced defending. For all the quality of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani, David Beckham, Neymar, Messi and Mbappe, they didn’t move to Paris on opulent wages to read pressing triggers and converge on an opposing defender who has the ball.
Under current head coach Luis Enrique, however, a more youthful forward group relished being the aggressors en route to the club’s first Champions League final triumph just over a week ago.
Although the Spaniard keeps his team in a coherent shape, a base 4-3-3 that functions as a 2-3-5 in build-up, individuals have ample freedom to find what the game is offering them. PSG is still a team of entertainers and a strict positional play model would be ill-advised, given its recruitment.
Even as Achraf Hakimi makes his lung-busting runs from wing-back to join the attack, there’s more cover for him whenever the ball changes hands before he’s back in position. In the past, his free-roaming nature left PSG susceptible as Messi failed to provide any defensive cover further forward and the midfielders seldom picked up on his scampers; these days, there are enough selfless team-mates to do that sort of work.
For example, check this savvy drift backwards from Vitinha as Hakimi began a charge forward in their Champions League semi-final against Arsenal.
Having moved on from the Messi-Mbappe-Neymar experiment, today’s PSG squad is more balanced and contains players willing to rotate roles to exploit the given match-up.
Ousmane Dembele isn’t a traditional centre-forward, such as Ibrahimovic or Cavani, but that only creates additional headaches for opponents as the PSG forward line weaves its way up the field. After joining from Napoli in January, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia provided a scoring threat from wide areas that was often lacking in their first months after Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid last summer.
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Don’t let the post-Messi and company narrative twist one fact, though: this is still a team with genuinely world-class players in nearly every area. Gianluigi Donnarumma already has a full awards cabinet at age 26, when most other goalkeepers are only entering their peak years. Fabian Ruiz was a star of Spain’s triumph at the European Championship last summer and centre-captain and captain Marquinhos is one of the bright spots from a rare (relatively) lean generation for Brazil.
While the nature of the takeover and subsequent ownership (the Qatari government-operated QSI) keeps this from being a true heart-warming breakthrough, PSG fans don’t seem too bothered so long as trophies keep coming to their Parc des Princes stadium.
The standout match is likely to be…
For all of Atletico’s storied history and PSG’s continental relevance since the turn of the century, it’s a surprise that the clubs only played their first competitive match against each other six months ago. Atletico has a perfect record in that sense, securing a 2-1 win at the Parc des Princes in the league phase of the Champions League.
At the time, PSG wasn’t yet the entertaining juggernaut that would play Inter off the pitch in the competition’s recent final.
Simeone’s side went to the French capital last November carrying its usual bag of tricks: a hard-nosed mentality coupled with well-organized team shape and some opportunism when a rare chance presented itself.
Immediately after the match, Luis Enrique didn’t mince words to convey his feelings about the result. Among the headline-grabbing descriptors he used were “inexplicable,” “unjust” and a “robbery” — just part of the business, as far as counterpart Simeone is concerned.
“This game showcased what we do well, we have a clear idea,” Simeone said, likely unaware of Luis Enrique’s allegations of match snaffling. “We’ve been working, building for 12 years, and we won’t deviate from that plan, whether people like it or not.”
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Between both coaches’ assessment of the proceedings and the xG step plot above, you can likely fill in the blanks.
PSG took the initiative from the opening whistle and was rewarded with an early breakthrough, controlling 70.8 per cent of possession while fostering an even more dominant 77.2 per cent field tilt. Atletico worked to limit the hosts’ ability to generate ‘big’ chances, with just 12.5 per cent of the 16 PSG generated registering as clear scoring opportunities.
As quick as PSG was whenever its players scampered upfield, Simeone’s side was equally deft at tracking back.
At first glance, you probably assume the above image is Atletico in rest defense, with PSG launching another attack into the final third. Not so — merely 10 seconds before this moment, the visitors had capped a sustained sequence of possession with a flick-on shot. While the hosts hoped to capitalise on that rare commitment to attacking play, their Spanish guests’ tirelessness and determination (and positional savvy, of course) eliminated the potential for an easy counter.
Expect more high-octane football across all phases when the teams meet again in the group’s first match in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, and perhaps a touchline spat between two longtime managerial rivals.
Honourable mention goes to Group B’s other opening match, with the Sounders welcoming Botafogo to Lumen Field.
The reigning Copa Libertadores champion has seen its squad ransacked since that triumph in late November, and sits sixth in Brazil’s Serie A after 11 games of the 2025 season. Seattle has had a few injuries keep it from cobbling together the squad’s true best XI yet this season, but is the only club in this tournament able to enjoy a true home-field advantage (as Inter Miami don’t usually play at the city’s Hard Rock Stadium, but a few miles north in Fort Lauderdale).
If either of these two is to unsettle the projected group hierarchy and threaten to advance into the knockout phase, they’d best claim all three points from that opening fixture.
The group’s galactico is…
While PSG has now affirmed its place among the world’s best clubs with its Champions League triumph, the Frenchmen still can’t match the historical might of Atletico.
While crosstown rival Real Madrid often wins head-to-head when trophies are on the line, Atletico remains a certifiable giant of the sport.
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Founded in 1903 by a trio of students from the northern Basque Country then living in the Spanish capital, the club was initially intended to be a subsidiary to their beloved Athletic Club in Bilbao. The ensuing century-plus has certainly exceeded their expectations, with Atletico claiming 11 La Liga titles (the first coming in 1939-40), Spain’s Copa del Rey domestic cup 10 times and three Europa League titles.
The late 1960s and 1970s were especially productive, with four of those La Liga titles coming from 1965-66 to 1976-77. However, this current era is arguably the club’s best, beginning with the inaugural Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup) in 2009-10 and accelerating when Simeone was appointed in 2011.
After playing 134 league matches for the club across two stints in the 1990s and early 2000s, Simeone provided a bridge of continuity, transferring his win-at-all-costs playing identity as a midfielder to his managerial approach. The former Argentina international has crystallized the club’s identity as a hard-nosed outfit that never backs down from a challenge.
So, yes, Atletico may be among the many clubs to rotate first-team players in this competition, using new signings and youth players to give the senior pros a bit of a breather, but make no mistake: no matter who Simeone sends out onto the field, opponents are bound to leave it with a few bruises.
The player who could make a name for themselves…
In recent years, the Sounders’ academy has consistently churned out technically capable central midfielders. The latest, Obed Vargas, may also be their best homegrown product to date.
Born in Alaska, Vargas left for Seattle at age 15 to begin his development in earnest, needing just two years before securing an MLS contract. Now a 19-year-old, he starts regularly in coach Brian Schmetzer’s midfield and has already amassed 107 appearances for the club in all competitions — including a 63-minute shift as an early substitute in the second leg as the Sounders won the 2022 Concacaf Champions League (now Cup) final against Mexico’s UNAM.
While he still fills multiple midfield roles, given his youthful versatility, Schmetzer’s change to a 3-4-3 has seen Vargas go from primarily operating as a defensive midfielder to playing in a more box-to-box role.
He has relished his new-found freedom to advance, leading all Sounders midfielders with an 84.2 per cent pass completion rate in the final third, also leading his position group in passes attempted after a carry per 100 touches.
Despite being born in the northernmost state of the U.S., Vargas filed a one-time switch with FIFA to represent Mexico, his family’s nation of heritage. He then made his debut in a friendly against the United States last October.
Given his considerable backlog of performances, his eye for a pass and his eagerness to defend, he’s one to watch for a future move to Europe.
A story to look out for is…
How rapidly Botafogo can rebuild its plane in mid-tournament flight.
The Rio de Janeiro club clinched a place in this tournament by winning the 2024 Copa Libertadores, beating fellow Brazilians Atletico Mineiro 3-1 in the final last November.
Sadly for them, the ensuing two transfer windows have seen that squad decimated as suitors plucked off the stars of that famous run.
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Within weeks of that final, top goalscorer Junior Santos had signed for Mineiro, captain and defensive midfielder Tche Tche saw his contract expire at year’s end and is now playing for Rio neighbours Vasco da Gama; former Manchester United right-back Rafael da Silva retired at age 34 and midfielders Thiago Almada and Luiz Henrique left for Lyon in France and Russia’s Zenit respectively.
As if all that wasn’t enough, this summer’s transfer window seems poised to see further departures.
The Athletic reported that another trio of starters could soon leave en masse for Nottingham Forest, including Brazil international striker Igor Jesus and 20-year-old defender Jair Cunha. Five new players have joined in 2025, including former New York City FC playmaker Santi Rodriguez and the permanent return of winger Jeffinho, following his 2023 move to Lyon.
Still, the number of departures in the six months since the Libertadores final already more than triples the incomings. This could be a very lean squad, and the need to rebuild chemistry could impact Botafogo’s ability to threaten in Group B.
You might not know this but…
The only thing FIFA seems to enjoy more than launching new tournaments is handing out awards.
While its “The Best” pageant may never unseat the Ballon d’Or, FIFA’s turn-of-the-millenium award series provided a credible snapshot of 20th-century footballing excellence.
Real Madrid ran away with the Club of the Century contest, winning 42.4 per cent of the vote, but a surprise entry in 12th was Botafogo, receiving as many votes as Arsenal, Benfica, Boca Juniors, Independiente, Liverpool and Inter (the Milan version).
Among the notable achievements to earn that status were winning a league match by a Brazilian-record 24-0 margin in 1909, going 52 games unbeaten across 1977 and 1978 and providing Brazil’s World Cup finals teams with more players (47) than any other club. Botafogo also won the domestic league 17 times in 100 years.
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The club also tried to adopt Donald Duck as its official mascot in the 1940s, but failed to secure the rights from Disney.
With two of their three group games being played across Los Angeles from Disneyland in Pasadena, perhaps they’ll get him to follow them back to Rio this time around.
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Shaun Clark / Getty, Charlotte Wilson / Getty)
This news was originally published on this post .
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