EAST RUTHERFORD, N,J. (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea square off in the final of the Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium on Sunday with the chance to become the first winner of the newly expanded tournament. Kickoff is 3 p.m. Eastern time.
Thirty-two teams from around the world entered the competition but it ends with an all-European final. PSG is reigning Champions League winner, having routed Inter Milan 5-0 in that title match. Chelsea won the third-tier UEFA Conference League in May.
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Chelsea's Cole Palmer, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Paris Saint-Germain during the first half of the Club World Cup final soccer match in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Chelsea's Cole Palmer (10) celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Chelsea's Cole Palmer warms up for the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Pyrotechniques are seen during a ceremony before the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele (10) celebrates after scoring during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Chelsea's Cole Palmer, left, is congratulated by Enzo Fernandez after scoring his side's first goal against Palmeiras during the Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Palmeiras and Chelsea in Philadelphia, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
The French champion is the favorite, having beaten Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid on its path to the final. But Chelsea is a rising force under manager Enzo Maresca. The Premier League club has qualified for the Champions League for the first time in three years, as well as winning the Conference League.
Here’s the latest:
Chelsea has become the first team to win the newly expanded Club World Cup —beating Champions League winner PSG in the final.
This looked like being the start of the PSG era, with Luis Enrique’s team sweeping its way to the title match. It was the big favorite to add the world title to its European crown, but Chelsea had other ideas.
It was a near-perfect performance from the Premier League team — racing to a 3-0 halftime lead and it could have added more in the second half. Cole Palmer scored twice and João Pedro added a third goal.
So the question now is — could this be the start of a new era for Chelsea?
Enzo Maresca’s team won the third-tier UEFA Conference League last season and qualified for the Champions League. American owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have overseen exorbitant spending and chaotic managerial appointments — but the trophies are starting to roll in.
Some angry scenes on the field after the final whistle. Luis Enrique, Joao Pedro and Gianluigi Donnarumma appeared to be involved in a confrontation before being separated.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca walked Donnarumma away from the standoff. He had an arm around the PSG goalkeeper — both are Italian.
Chelsea is the Club World Cup champion after a 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
That was pure frustration from Joao Neves.
We saw moments earlier an incident between him and Marc Cucurella when he was trying to get the Chelsea defender to stand up after a foul.
And then there was an off-the-ball collision between the pair and VAR showed Joao Neves responded by pulling Cucurella’s hair.
It was enough to be deemed violent conduct and therefore a red card.
A bad day for PSG just gets worse.
Another brilliant chance for PSG and another brilliant save from Robert Sanchez to deny Ousmane Dembele from close range in the 52nd minute.
Notably, PSG is getting beyond Chelsea’s defense with far more regularity than in the first half. The French team has to make one of these chances count if it is to stage a comeback, down 3-0.
João Pedro makes it 3-0 with a delightful flick over goalkeeper Gianluigi Donarumma in the 43rd minute.
After two goals in the semifinals, he’s got another in the final.
Again Chelsea has cut PSG open on the left of the French team’s defense. It was a brilliant throughball by Cole Palmer.
Pedro Neto, Moises Caicedo and Malo Gusto could be walking a tightrope for the rest of the match, with all three on yellow cards.
That’s about the only negative for Chelsea in what has been an outstanding first half against a PSG team that has been made to look ordinary.
It’s that man again and it was a virtual repeat of his first goal.
Yet again Cole Palmer has the ball inside the box and curls a low left-footed shot into the bottom corner.
It’s 2-0 Chelsea after 30 minutes. Palmer opened the scoring in the 22nd
Cole Palmer didn’t miss this time. From the same spot where he fired wide earlier.
Again it’s another curling effort, but this time he goes low and it ends up inside the right side of the post.
Superb composure from Palmer to thread that shot around the PSG defense and beyond goalkeeper Gianluigi Donarumma.
PSG’s first chance fell to Desire Doue — the player of the match in the Champions League final — but he got it all wrong on this occasion.
With the ball at his feet and close to goal, he opted to cut the ball back for Achraf Hakimi, who would have had a tap in.
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella was there to intercept and the chance was gone.
Surely Doue would have been better off shooting from there?
Parts of the stadium thought Chelsea scored — but Cole Palmer’s curling effort hit the side netting in the eighth minute.
Chelsea wouldn’t have wanted that chance to fall to anyone else but Palmer — even if he has been unusually quiet in front of goal since the turn of the year. The England international has only scored four times in 2025 and only once in the Club World Cup.
Tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed across France in anticipation of tonight’s game in the United States.
French officials want to avoid a repeat of the violence that disrupted PSG’s celebrations of its historic Champions League title.
They say no gatherings will be allowed on the Champs-Elysées.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told RMC media: “A total of 11,500 police and gendarmes will be mobilized in Paris on Sunday, and 53,000 throughout France.”
French police are faced with a double security challenge. Tomorrow is Bastille Day.
Temperature at kickoff is forecast to be 83 degrees Fahrenheit (28 Celsius) with humidity that will make it feel like 88 F (31 C).
Heat has been an ongoing concern throughout the tournament.
Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernández said Friday that playing in high temperatures is “ very dangerous.”
“The other day I got a little dizzy during a play. I had to lie down on the ground because I was really dizzy,” he said.
The lowest ticket prices dropped from $330 earlier in the week to $199.60 on Saturday.
FIFA cut standard ticket prices for the semifinal between Chelsea and Fluminense at MetLife on Tuesday to $13.40 from $473.90 earlier in the past week.
FIFA has used dynamic pricing for the 63-game tournament.
Ticket prices dropped to $11.15 for a quarterfinal in Orlando, Florida, between Fluminense and Al Hilal, and in Philadelphia between Chelsea and Palmeiras.
The winning team could earn $125 million in prize money, based on results throughout the competition.
PSG and Chelsea have reaped a guaranteed $75.6 million so far, with the winner of tonight’s final picking up another $40 million.
Added to that is a participation fee ranging from $13 million to $38 million dependent on a ranking that FIFA says is “based on sporting and commercial criteria.”
Even without the participation fee, the winner of the final is guaranteed to make $115.6 million for one month’s work and seven games. To put that into context, Real Madrid picked up $154 million for winning the Champions League in 2024 — a season-long tournament that involved 13 matches from the group stage to the final.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will attend the final.
They traveled from their golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to East Rutherford 40 miles (64 kilometers) away to watch the match.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has built close ties to both Trump administrations, and was inside the Capitol rotunda in January for the formal presidential inauguration ceremony.
FIFA has previously said that Trump will present the trophy at the finals of both the Club World Cup the 2026 World Cup — both at MetLife Stadium. Infantino left the Club World Cup trophy at the Oval Office for several weeks after a White House visit.
No changes for PSG from the team that beat Real Madrid 4-0 in the semifinals. That front three of Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is enough to give defenders nightmares.
PSG’s lineup: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Beraldo, Nuno Mendes; Joao Neves, Ruiz, Vitinha; Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia.
Chelsea’s lineup is out already and new signing João Pedro starts again after his two-goal performance in the team’s 2-0 semifinal victory over Fluminense.
Could he take the golden boot for the tournament after only two starts? Four players share the lead on four goals apiece — none of whom are in the final.
Chelsea’s lineup: Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella, James; Caicedo, Enzo, Palmer, Neto; Joao Pedro.
Not even the most optimistic of PSG fans could have expected things to so well in the post-Kylian Mbappe era.
The French superstar’s move to Real Madrid last year preceded the greatest season in club history.
PSG finally won its first Champions League title. Weeks later, it can cap it off with the world title.
Mbappe, meanwhile, despite enjoying an outstanding individual campaign at Madrid, ended his first year in Spain with the club relinquishing its Spanish and European titles. He also had to endure a 4-0 loss to PSG in the Club World Cup semifinals.
PSG’s Fabian Ruiz, better known for his defensive qualities in midfield, is an unlikely contender for the tournament’s top scorer.
He is on three goals and another in the final would see him move level with Gonzalo Garcia (Real Madrid), Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund) and Marcos Leonardo (Al-Hilal) at the top.
But keep an eye on PSG forward Ousmane Dembele, who has scored 32 times this season and is on two for the tournament.
Chelsea’s Pedro Neto is also on three goals and in contention for the golden boot, while new teammate Joao Pedro made an instant impact for his new club with two goals in the 2-0 semifinal victory over Fluminense.
Lionel Messi dazzled for Argentina when they faced Brazil in an international friendly at MetLife Stadium in June 2012.
His 85th-minute winner completed a hat trick in a 4-3 victory in a match that drew just under 82,000 fans.
Messi is still going, though his Inter Miami team was rudely ousted from the Club World Cup in a 4-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16 two weeks ago.
Is a Meadowlands encore in store? Messi led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title and he’s still playing for the national team.
MetLife will host another big game a year from now — next summer’s World Cup final.
It was selected to host final scheduled for July 19, 2026, in what will be the culmination of an expanded 48-nation, 104-game tournament.
The United States is hosting with Mexico and Canada.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had lobbied for the final to be at his AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Some things to know about the stadium where today’s match will be played:
It cost $1.6 billion to construct and opened in 2010.
It is the home of two NFL teams — the New York Giants and New York Jets — even though it’s located in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Capacity for soccer and NFL games is 82,500.
It’s located 10 miles west of Manhattan.
It hosted the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, 2014 when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8. The NFL rarely holds its marque event at an outdoor stadium in a cold-weather city.
It is no surprise that it’s an all-European final, given the continent’s recent dominance of this competition. European teams have won the past 11 editions when it was still just a seven-team mini tournament.
The last non-European team to win was Corinthians. The Brazilian club won the title in 2012 by beating Chelsea 1-0 in the final.
Both teams have identical records on their way to the final. They both won twice and lost once in the group phase.
PSG, however, has been explosive in front of goal — blowing away Atletico Madrid, Inter Miami and Real Madrid. And the French team has allowed just one goal all tournament.
In the group stage PSG beat Atletico 4-0, lost to Botafogo 1-0, and beat Seattle 2-0. They topped Lionel Messi’s squad 4-0, then blanked Bayern Munich 2-0 to reach the semifinals, where they downed Real Madrid 4-0.
Chelsea in the group stage beat LAFC 2-0, lost to Flamengo 3-1, and beat ES Tunis 3-0.
The Premier League club then eliminated Benfica 4-1 (after extra time), beat Palmeiras 2-1 in the quarterfinals and defeated Fluminense 2-0 to get to the championship match.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Chelsea's Cole Palmer, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Paris Saint-Germain during the first half of the Club World Cup final soccer match in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Chelsea's Cole Palmer (10) celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Chelsea's Cole Palmer warms up for the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
Pyrotechniques are seen during a ceremony before the Club World Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and PSG in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, July 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Paris Saint-Germain's Ousmane Dembele (10) celebrates after scoring during the Club World Cup semifinal soccer match between PSG and Real Madrid in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Chelsea's Cole Palmer, left, is congratulated by Enzo Fernandez after scoring his side's first goal against Palmeiras during the Club World Cup quarterfinal soccer match between Palmeiras and Chelsea in Philadelphia, Friday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
