Inter Miami Among Global Elite in FIFA Club World Cup Knockouts

Inter Miami became the first team from the U.S. to advance to the Club World Cup knockout phase in the competition's ever-changing 25-year history on Monday night.

Fédération Internationale de Football Association's (FIFA) Club World Cup brings together the best club soccer teams worldwide to compete in cross-continental matchups that wouldn't otherwise occur. The tournament has typically been dominated by European and South American teams, particularly from Spain, Brazil, and England.

And while you may think advancing to the knockout rounds with a win and two draws in three group-stage games is nothing to celebrate, it's a big step for Major League Soccer (MLS), the pinnacle of professional soccer in the U.S.

In terms of performance level, player quality, and general prestige, MLS is far behind the top five national leagues in the world, which are generally considered to be England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France. So, Inter Miami actually making it out of the group stages is essentially the equivalent of a professional Portuguese basketball team competing and winning against the Los Angeles Lakers.

This year marked the first time MLS teams have qualified for the tournament, which only invites winning teams of continent-wide tournaments. FIFA has dramatically changed the tournament over the years, including expanding the number of teams from seven to 32 this year, which certainly helped teams from the U.S. qualify.

In the seven-team format, teams had to win one of FIFA's six continental tournaments from the year before; the seventh slot went to the best team from the tournament's host nation, which is how Inter Miami qualified for this year's tournament.
MLS teams have typically been kept out by better-performing Mexican teams, which have dominated the annual North American tournament held by the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF).

This year, FIFA invited multiple teams from a given nation to compete. Inter Miami, Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC), and Seattle Sounders became the first three U.S. teams to qualify for the tournament. However, Inter Miami is faring far better than its compatriots.

Seattle Sounders in 2022 became only the second MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League; they joined the champions of 2021, 2023, and 2024 in this year's expanded Club World Cup format. They've already crashed out of the cup after losing all three group stage games.

LAFC has already dropped its opening two games and likely only has a slim chance of survival when it faces group-leading Club de Regatas do Flamengo, one of the most prolific teams in Brazil's top-flight league.

Inter Miami, on the other hand, finished second in its group among impressive and prestigious competition from Portugal, Brazil, and Egypt, winning one match and drawing two.

They became the first U.S. team to play at the Club World Cup at the opening game at Hard Rock Stadium on June 14, and they'll be the first U.S. team to play in the knockout rounds when they play in Atlanta on Sunday against the current European champion, Paris Saint-Germain Football Club.