Chelsea vs PSG live updates: Club World Cup 2025 final confirmed team news, predictions and latest – The New York Times

FIFA Club World Cup
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It is 2025 Club World Cup final day with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain meeting at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The two teams have already won international trophies this season; PSG are the European champions while their opponents won the UEFA Conference League.
Chelsea have won the Club World Cup twice before in its old format, while the Parisians had never played in the competition before this summer.
You can sign up to DAZN to watch the FIFA Club World Cup final for free.
We weren't sure whether it would be Reece James or Malo Gusto in the Chelsea line-up, but Enzo Maresca has gone with both of them.
That will likely mean Gusto at right-back and James alongside Moises Caicedo in the midfield pivot.
The Chelsea manager perhaps wants more bodies in the middle of the park, but it feels something of a risk to throw his captain into that position against the best midfield trio in world football.
Christopher Nkunku started the semi-final but has dropped out of the team, which will likely shuffle Cole Palmer onto the right wing.
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As Mark said a little earlier, no need for any changes from Luis Enrique — here is how they start this Club World Cup final:
A few big decisions to make for Maresca today — here is how Chelsea will start today's final:
Whomever Maresca selects at right-back today will be revealing of their build-up and attacking approach.
If it is Malo Gusto, expect to see the French international push high into the right half space while Marc Cucurella tucks in to form a back three in possession. If Reece James starts, it will be him tucking in while Cucurella marauds forward in typical fashion on the left flank.
Enzo Maresca, speaking in his pre-match press conference, was full of respect for PSG but first. he discussed his side's achievement of making it this far.
💬 “First of all, we are delighted to be here. We feel privileged because we arrived here a month ago, there were 32 teams, we were 16, and from 16 we were eight, from eight, four, and from four, two. So we are very happy and delighted to be here.
“What worries me about Paris Saint-Germain is what worries me about any team. I try to help the team prepare for the game in the best way possible, to give the players all the information possible, so that they can perform on the pitch, and this is my biggest concern. I try to prepare the game, I try to respect any team.”
One of the key tactical questions for Enzo Maresca is who he will name up front for Chelsea this afternoon.
Joao Pedro did excellently on his first start against Fluminense, scoring twice, but I would argue that Liam Delap’s tendency to run in behind might stretch PSG more and create space elsewhere for the likes of Cole Palmer to exploit.
A good dilemma to have, in truth.
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While PSG are big favourites to win today, Luis Enrique was under no illusions that their opponents will provide a stern test.
💬 “It's important to be aware of the difficulty of the match. Chelsea have a young coach who likes to play with the ball. He's got a team with a lot of individuality, but when they have to defend, they do it like we do, and they're very strong physically too.
“It is going to be a tight game. It will be difficult because we are similar in most areas of the game. We're ready, they're ready. We've each won a European trophy this season, so it'll be an interesting game.”
You can be pretty confident of Luis Enrique’s starting XI this afternoon — it names itself.
Yet that is the thing with this PSG side, you know who you’re coming up against, you broadly know what they are going to do, but stopping their rotations and positional fluidity is another story altogether. In this heat, Chelsea need to contain the space and keep things tight for as long as possible.
Speaking of hosts and heat, FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested in recent media availability they’ll be able to “hide” from extreme weather in 2026 by leaning on indoor or covered venues.
This might be a solution for matches in certain parts of the country, but MetLife Stadium is very much uncovered. The only real solution here to avoid scorching temps when they’re at their worst is to make sure kick-offs are not scheduled for midday or early afternoon.
The expanded version of the Club World Cup was initially pitched as 24 teams.
Rather than scale, the issue, to my mind, isn’t the concept. It’s the host. The idea that fans might need to literally hose themselves down at games is mad.
One thought that has never quite gone away during the past month: might this tournament have worked better, at least initially, on a smaller scale?
Starting with 16 teams, with games localised in three or four cities, a rebranded Club World Cup could have had an intimate feel and developed more momentum. It might also have been an opportunity to better deal with some of the difficulties that have been encountered.
32 teams seems like a lot. Even from a position of thinking that inter-continental football is a good idea, the rush to scale this competition up has been to its detriment at times.
Maybe a smaller tournament would allow a bit more agility around some of these issues — air-con in stadiums, smarter kick-off times. Not sure, but 32 seems like FIFA hubris.
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Wandering near MetLife’s main entrance and stumbled upon this useful stadium feature — hoses with a continuous spray to keep fans cool. Already caught one stadium employee in a golf cart pull over briefly too cool off.
This will be great for fans once the sun comes out in a few hours. Right now it’s cloudy, but the forecast calls for clear, sunny skies by 3pm ET when the match kick offs. That’s when temperatures will peak at 86 degrees F — but knowing New Jersey humidity, it will likely feel worse.
On the topic of modest and self-aware FIFA presidents, Sepp Blatter has weighed in with his opinion on modern football. Speaking to German TV channel ntv, Blatter said:
💬 “We have lost football to Saudi Arabia. We offered it, and they took it. Surprisingly, there is no opposition to this within FIFA.”
He actually made a good point about the Club World Cup and one that most people outside of the FIFA bubble agree with, but I struggle to believe Blatter would be prioritising player welfare over profits…
“There’s too much football. The same players and clubs are repeatedly affected, without adequate rest.”
GO FURTHER
‘Football has been lost to Saudi Arabia’ – former FIFA president Sepp Blatter
In the gold-plated lobby of Trump Tower, the mixed-use skyscraper that is now the Manhattan base for FIFA employees in New York City, the president of football’s governing body, Gianni Infantino, held court on Saturday morning.
These days, Infantino rarely deigns to attend conventional press conferences. He did not do a press conference at the FIFA Congress in the past two years and this event, held to mark the final weekend of the expanded Club World Cup, did not represent an exercise of deep scrutiny. FIFA’s director of communications told journalists present that questions should be about the tournament, which means Infantino is still to face significant questioning over how exactly the 2030 men’s World Cup ended up on multiple continents across six countries or about the process that led to the 2034 edition being held in Saudi Arabia.
As ever with Infantino, any press conference begins with a speech.
Read more below
GO FURTHER
Gianni Infantino talks up the Club World Cup at Trump Tower – ‘We will make it better’
Spotted a grand total of four Chelsea shirts while wandering around Chelsea, Manhattan this morning, but plenty of shirts (or jerseys, if you like) of all different teams as people gather at Penn Station to get the train to Secaucus and on to Meadowlands for MetLife.
And then Infantino began talking about the finances behind FIFA's expanded club tournament.
💬 “We heard financially it would not work but I can say we generated over $2billion in revenues with this competition. We earned on average $33million per match. There is no other cup competition in the world that comes close to $33m per match.
“It is already the most successful club competition in the world with all different measurements.”
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When Gianni Infantino spoke at Trump Tower yesterday, he was as modest and as self aware as ever. Just kidding, he told us all that his brainchild tournament has been an overwhelming success while skirting over the very real issues that have presented themselves.
💬 “The golden era of global club football has started. We can say definitely that this FIFA Club World Cup has been a huge, huge, huge success. Of course, there are a lot of positives, some negatives.
“We respect everyone's opinion. It has been successful. We have had over 2.5 million in the stadium. That's around 40,000 spectators per match – there is no league in the world with that number, except the Premier League which, of course, has home teams and these are neutral stadiums.”
When looking for the most creative player at this Club World Cup, you need not look any further than these two teams.
Enzo Fernandez is enjoying a great tournament and has more assists than anyone else, with three.
He is the only Chelsea player with more than one while there are four PSG players with two.
Throughout the tournament, there hasn't been a player able to pull clear in the race for the Golden Boot. Four players are tied on four goals, but there are a few players representing the finalists that could make a late charge.
Fabian Ruiz and Pedro Neto are the most likely of those in action later.
Players that have scored two or three goals for eliminated teams have not been included

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