FIFA Club World Cup: Inter's opponents

The wait is over: Inter's opponents for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 have been confirmed. The tournament will be played from 15 June until 13 July 2025 in the United States. Simone Inzaghi's side will take on River Plate, CF Monterrey and Urawa Red Diamonds. Inter, who were in the second wave of the draw, were placed in Group E. In the first match, the Nerazzurri will face the Mexican side CF Monterrey. Following that game, we will face the Japanese side, Urawa Red Diamonds, before our final group match against River Plate. Inter have never faced any of these sides in official competitions: the only two previous meetings were friendlies against River Plate, in Milan in 1961, in Mexico against Monterrey in 1994, and with Urawa Red Diamonds in Saitama in 2004.

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP: INTER'S SCHEDULE

GROUP E

Thursday 17 June 2025 River Plate vs Urawa Red Diamonds | Lumen Field (Seattle) - 12:00 (local time) Monterrey vs Inter | Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles) - 18:00 (local time)

Saturday, June 21, 2025 Inter vs Urawa Red Diamonds | Lumen Field (Seattle) - 12:00 (local time) River Plate vs Monterrey | Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles) - 18:00 (local time)

Wednesday 25 June 2025 Urawa Red Diamonds vs Monterrey | Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles) - 18:00 (local time) Inter vs River Plate | Lumen Field (Seattle) - 12:00 (local time)

THE PATH TO FINALS

Inter are placed in Group E, which is paired with Group F (Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD and Mamelodi Sundowns) for the round of 16.

The first-placed team from Group E (1E) will play in the round of 16 match on 30 June at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte against the second-placed team from Group F (2F) [match 53].

The Group E (2E) runners-up will play on 1 July at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against the top team in Group F (1F) [match 56].

In the quarterfinals, the winner of match 53 will face the winner of match 54 (first in Group G vs. second in Group H) in Orlando (Inter&Co Stadium, 4 July, 15:00); the winner of match 56 will face the winner of match 55 (1H vs. 2G) in New York (New Jersey, MetLife Stadium, 5 July, 16:00).

The semi-finals and final will be played at the MetLife Stadium.

RIVER PLATE

One of the most legendary sides in South America, River Plate qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup thanks to there ranking score. In their long history, they have won 38 Argentinian titles, a national record and four Copa Libertadores, winning their last one in 2018 after the historical final against their eternal rivals Boca Juniors. This was the last win by an Argentinian side since 2019, after which the tournament has only been won by Brazilian sides. This season, River Plate were eliminated in the semi-final by Atletico Mineiro (3-0 and 0-0 in the double game tie), meanwhile in the league as the reigning champions they are currently fifth, nine points behind the leaders Vélez, with just three games to go. The leading scorer for the Argentinian side is the Colombian International Miguel Borja, who has scored 30 goals in 45 matches. River Plate are full of young talents, like Echeverri who thanks to his performances has received the attention of Manchester City, who bought him and will have him as part of their team from January 2025. That's not all: the 17 year-old Franco Mastantuono is a young talent with lots of potential, while experience is guaranteed from the ex West Ham man Lanzini and World Champion's Marcos Acuna, German Pezzella, ex-Fiorentina, and finally the Captain, the goalkeeper Franco Armani, who also won the World Cup in Qatar. Up front they have the ex-Inter player Facundo Colidio: the 24 year-old has scored seven league goals this year. Marcelo Gallardo returned to the River Plate dugout in August, one of the most successful managers in the club's history: one league title and two Copa Libertadores, in 2015 and 2018. PREVIOUS MEETINGS

River Plate and Inter have never faced each other in official competitions, but the Nerazzurri did face the club from Buenos Aires in a friendly played in Milano in 1961. In the summer of that year a special international tournament was organised to celebrate the Centenary of the Unification of Italy: Inter, Juventus, Napoli, Roma, Racing Parigi, River Plate, Santos and Sparta Prague all took part. After beating Sparta 7-1, Inter then faced River Plate at San Siro on 21 June 1961, in a match that the Corriere della Sera of the time defined as "beautiful and exciting", in front of around 75,000 spectators. The Nerazzurri lineup was: Da Pozzo, Picchi, Masiero, Zaglio, Guarneri, Balleri, Bicicli, Lindskog, Bettini, Suarez, Corso. The game ended 1-1: Inter took the lead in the 31st minute through Corso's header, from Bicicli's cross, who was quick to link up well with Suarez, firstly, and then with Zaglio. River managed to equalise in the second half from Moacyr's free kick from the edge of the box. With the draw earned, Inter qualified for the final of the tournament, which they lost 4-1 against Pelé's Santos.

In official matches, Inter have just one illustrious past meeting against Argentine teams.but the nerazzurri have faced a few Argentinian sides. In 1964, after winning the Champions Cup, Inter faced Independiente in a two-legged game for the final of the Intercontinental Cup.

In the first leg, played on September 9 in Avellaneda, the Argentinian's won 1-0. The return leg on September 23 at San Siro saw Helenio Herrera's army level the contest, thanks to goals from Mazzola and Corso, meaning a third match was needed to decide the winner. The play-off, held three days later at the "Santiago Bernabéu" in Madrid, marked the triumph of the Grande Inter in extra time, with a left-footed strike from Mario Corso securing the nerazzurri’s first-ever ascent to the top of world football. Twelve months later, the two sides faced off in the 1965 edition of the trophy. This time, the first round was played at San Siro on 8 September 1965: Inter beat the opponents 3-0 overall, thanks to a goal from Peirò and a brace from Mazzola, including a stunning overhead kick. In the return match, a week later in Buenos Aires, Inter managed to keep a clean sheet and win the Intercontinental Cup for the second year running, writing one of the most glorious pages in the history of world football.

PLAYERS WHO HAVE PLAYED FOR BOTH

There have been a lot of players who have played for both sides: Matias Almeyda, Gabriel Batistuta, Esteban Cambiasso, Juan Pablo Carrizo, Hernan Crespo, Julio Cruz, Daniel Passarella, Sixto Peralta, Nelson Rivas, Alexis Sanchez, Santiago Solari and Nelson Vivas.

MONTERREY

The match against Monterrey is also a first-time clash. The Mexican side, qualified thanks to their win in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2021. The Mexican side have played in the FIFA Club World Cup before, on five occasions. In their trophy cabinet, there are five Mexican league titles, the latest one came in the Apertura in 2019 and five Champions Cups.

This season, the Apertura tournament finished just recently, with Monterrey finishing in fifth place, 11 points behind Cruz Azul. In the most recent edition of the Champions Cup, the Mexican club's campaign ended in the semi-finals, after a defeat to the MLS side Columbus Crew. Monterrey have a talented side, with some players from Europe: their top scorer is Sergio Canales, an old star from Spanish football (ex-Real Madrid, Valencia, Real Sociedad and Real Betis), with nine goals in nineteen matches. There are then the ex-Sevilla players Oliver Torres and Lucas Ocampos (who played in Serie A for AC Milan and Genoa), as well as the Mexican players Hector Moreno (veteran of the National side) and Jesús Corona, a quality player who played for Sevilla and Porto.

The ex-Argentina defender Martin Demichelis is their manager, who has played in Europe for big clubs like Bayern Munich, Malaga and Manchester City.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Monterrey and Inter have played each other once, but never in competitive football. Back in 1994, the two sides met in a tournament in which Inter and AC Milan took part together with the Rayados and Chivas de Guadalajara. The Tecate Cup was held in Mexico, in Monterrey and Guadalajara in May 1994, two weeks after the second leg of the UEFA Cup final won by Inter, the last competitive match of the season. In the two semi-finals the Milanese teams faced the Mexican teams: AC Milan were defeated on penalties by Chivas, while Inter got the better of Monterrey in the match played at the Estadio Tecnológico, the then home stadium of the Rayados. The team, with Gianpieri Marini at the helm, won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Igor Shalimov in the 65th minute. Here is the Inter line-up from that game: Zenga, Bergomi, Ferri, M. Paganin, A. Paganin, Battistini, Manicone, Russo, Shalimov, Barollo, Delvecchio. The Nerazzurri were then defeated 1-0 by Chivas in the final in Guadalajara.

URAWA RED DIAMONDS

The Japanese side from Saitama qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup thanks to their win in the AFC Champions League in 2022, in the double-leg final against Al Hilal (1-1 and 1-0).

Gli Urawa Red Diamonds vantano 5 campionati e 3 Champions League AFC, record per il Giappone. In questa stagione il campionato nipponico sta volgendo al termine e vede gli Urawa in 12.a posizione con 47 punti, a -22 dal Vissel Kobe che si giocherà il titolo nell’ultimo turno con il Sanfrecce. The Urawa Red Diamonds boast five league titles and 3 Champions League AFC, a record in Japan. This season, the Japanese league is coming to an end, with Urawa in 12th place with 47 points, 22 points behind Vissel Kobe, who will compete for the title in the final round against Sanfrecce.

The Japanese side haven't managed to gain qualification for the Champions League this season: last season their campaign came to an end after the Group Stage.

The Brazilian Thiago is the team's top scorer with 12 goals in 31 appearances, while the Polish Coach Maciej Skorza took over after the sacking of the Norwegian Coach Hogmo. The Urawa were part of the last edition of the old version of the FIFA Club World Cup, coming fourth after losing to Manchester City in the semi-final. PREVIOUS MEETINGS

There has only been one previous meeting between Inter and Urawa Red Diamonds, when the nerazzurri went on tour in Japan in 2004, as we took part in the Saitama City Cup, an international friendly tournament that was played in the city of Saitama. On that occasion, the nerazzurri took to the field with part of the team, as there was a friendly summer tournament between Inter, Juventus and Milan which saw other nerazzurri players involved.

Fernando Orsi led Inter in the match against Urawa Red Diamonds, the assistant to Roberto Mancini, who was involved in Italy with the other Inter side.

The match in Saitama was won 1-0 by the Urawa Red Diamonds. This was the Inter side that took on the Japanese side: Toldo (88' Bindi), Dellafiore, Adani, Giani, Coco (80' Visconti), Karagounis (87' Di. Marino), Farinos, Lamouchi, Zicu (46' Costanzo, 78' M. Lombardo), Recoba, Choutos (7' Meggiorini).