MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) – The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup is set to kick off in South Florida this moneht, and teams are landing to start their training.
Thirty-two teams will be pushed to their limits over the course of a month, in 12 different locations, until one wins the top spot.
Egyptian club Al-Ahly is the first team to arrive in MIA.
The team will be sharpening their skills ahead of the match in South Florida under recently named head coach José Riveiro.
“So excited happy to be here, representing our club, representing Egypt as well,” said Riveiro. “Ready to build up to the first game. We come in with enough time to have a good adaptation, to have a good preparation for the first match, and that’s the intention.”
“They’re going to be seeing teams from all around the world, different teams that they probably have never seen before,” said Noah Allen, a defender for Inter Miami. “So I think it’s going to be important, and it’s great for the whole club in general. The whole city, honestly, of Miami.”
The club is set to play Inter Miami in the opener next weekend, a team that the club, and the world, is all too familiar with.
“It’s a team full of big names, players that they don’t have so much to say anymore about football, they won everything already. Inter Miami is a big team with so many great players like Messi and Suarez, but we are also a big team,” said Riveiro. “It’s not our first time in the FIFA Club World Cup, and we believe we are already prepared, and we will show how we play against an important team, but we are also important, and we will do our best in the match.”
The coach says his team will bring their best onto the field.
“They come into the tournament with the same expectations than us, go through, go to the next round, and we know for sure we’re going to face extremely competitive players,” said Riveiro. “We’re going to show try to show our character, we’re going to try to show our football as well. It’s a club with a huge tradition.”
A tradition that football fans have been following for generations, including Khalid, a fan who drove all the way from Naples to see the arrival. He said he even played for the club’s handball team.
“I was born in this club; I feel like I’m so happy that the team will be here. This is the biggest event ever, and it’s going to be awesome. Thanks to FIFA that they did this,” said Khalid.
No matter the score at the end of the game, Al-Ahly said they plan on offering stiff competition.
“We’re not going to play the occasion, we’re going to play each and every game with the intention to win, and hopefully we can have a good time here,” said Riveiro.
The opening match of the tournament, pitting Inter Miami against Al-Ahly, kicks off June 14 at Hard Rock Stadium.
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