Overview
Juventus face Al Ain in the opening match of both teams at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
The Serie A team has had a relatively disappointing 2024-2025 season. They are fourth in Serie A and have not won any titles. When Thiago Motta was appointed club manager last summer, there were high expectations, but he only lasted until March before being replaced by Igor Tudor.
Dusan Vlahovic has once again become Juventus' top scorer in all competitions. This is the third consecutive season he has done so, with the Serbian scoring 15 goals in 41 matches.
Promising young player Kenan Yildiz also contributed 9 goals and 6 assists. Yildiz could prove himself to be one of Juventus's most important players in the competition.
Only Lamine Yamal and Desire Doue are younger Yildiz among the players from Europe's top five leagues who have been involved in at least 15 goals in the 2024-2025 season.
Despite being one of the biggest clubs in Italian football, this match will see Juventus make their first appearance at the FIFA Club World Cup, including the previous format of the tournament.
They have previously participated three times in the old Intercontinental Cup, winning in the 1985 editions (against Argentinos Juniors) and 1996 (against River Plate).
Al Ain has made two appearances in the old FIFA Club World Cup format. Their best achievement was in 2018 when the UAE team defeated Team Wellington, ES Tunis and River Plate on the way to the final. However, they lost the final against Real Madrid (14).
Expectations for Al Ain when participating in this tournament are very low, as they are in the same group as the two European representatives. Their 2024-2025 record also doesn't provide much confidence in their success in the US this summer. They could only win fifth place and were 19 points behind champions Al Ahli.
Predicting the result
Juventus are expected to easily win this match with an 82.3% chance. In contrast, Al Ain have a 6.6% chance of creating a surprise.
Juventus are also likely to continue in Group G, with only Manchester City (97.2%) having a better chance of reaching the knockout stage than them (87.6%). Al Ain (5.2%) and Wydad AC 9.9%) are not expected to cause difficulties for these two European clubs.
Score prediction: Al Ain 0-2 Juventus
The match between Al Ain and Juventus takes place at 8:00 a.m. on June 19 (Vietnam time).
