Overview
Pep Guardiola's journey to find the FIFA Club World Cup title for the fifth time will begin with a match against Wydad AC at Lincoln Financial Stadium, Philadelphia (USA).
The Spaniard has won four times in the old format of the tournament, equal to Carlo Ancelotti.
Guardiola has lifted the trophy to three different clubs, which is also a record: Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Bayern Munich in 2013 and Man City in 2023.
City fans will be looking forward to seeing Rodri on the pitch more after he recovers from injury. The Spaniard has only featured in 4 official matches of the 2024-2025 season. Before that, Rodri was an indispensable factor in Man City's successful era.
Erling Haaland has scored 31 goals in 44 matches in all competitions in the 2024-2025 season for Man City. Only Mohamed Salah (34 goals for Liverpool) has scored more goals for a Premier League team.
However, Haaland's goals are not enough for City to win a major title. This is the first campaign without a title since 2016-17, Guardiola's first season at the club.
This match could help The Citizens fans witness exciting summer signings for the first time such as Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders.
Wydad will become the first Morocco team to face an English team in history. Meanwhile, City have only faced teams outside of Europe twice before, both at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup.
At that time, they defeated Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan and Fluminense of Brazil.
Wydad has participated in the FIFA Club World Cup twice before, the most of any club from Morocco. However, they have not won any (2 losses in 2017, 1 draw and elimination from the penalty spot in the 2022 tournament).
They finished the domestic season in third place, 16 points behind champions Botola RS Berkane.
Predicting the result
Man City is a strong candidate to start the journey to glory at the FIFA Club World Cup with a victory. They have an 87.2% chance of winning, compared to their opponents' 8.7%.
The Premier League team is expected to easily pass the group stage with a 97.2% chance. Juventus are also expected to advance to the round of 16 (87.6%). Wydad (9.9%) and Al Ain (5.2%) are the weak teams in this group.
Score prediction: Man City 3-0 Wydad AC
The match between Man City and Wydad AC takes place at 23:00 on June 18 (Vietnam time).
