Manchester City and Real Madrid will be placed in the highest-ranking pot in the draw for the Club World Cup, while Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is in the lowest.
FIFA confirmed on Tuesday the procedure for the draw, which takes place in Miami on Thursday. The newly expanded tournament will be held in the United States from June 15 to July 13 next year.
Also in Pot 1 are European giants Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain as well as the four highest-ranked teams from South America: Flamengo, Palmeiras, River Plate and Fluminense.
Inter Miami, which qualified despite being eliminated in the first-round of the MLS Cup playoffs, is in Pot 4, along with the Seattle Sounders.
FIFA said the 32 qualified teams had been allocated positions in four pots for the draw to “ensure competitive balance and geographical diversity.”
Pot 1 consists of the highest-ranked teams in Europe and South America, while Pot 2 is made up of the remaining European qualifiers.
Pot 3 has Neymar’s Saudi Arabian team Al Hilal as one of the two highest-ranked qualifiers from Asia. It also features the two highest-ranked teams from Africa, the North, Central America and Caribbean confederation and two more South American teams.
Twelve European teams have qualified including Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Porto, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus and Salzburg.
Draw rules state that two European teams will be included in each of the eight groups, but no other confederation can have more than one team in the same group.
Miami and Seattle have automatically been allocated fourth position in groups A and B respectively before the draw has even taken place.
Messi’s team plays in the opening game of the tournament at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Sounders’ opening game is at Lumen Field in Seattle.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
