Overview
Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg will meet in Group H of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
Real Madrid are the leading candidate for the top spot in the group, but the second-place battle seems very open.
Al Hilal (50.6%) is considered the team most likely to join Los Blancos in the knockout round. However, RB Salzburg (34.4%) and Pachuca (21.8%) also have a very realistic chance to go further.
While this is the first time Salzburg have participated in the FIFA Club World Cup, Pachuca have participated before. Pachuca has made five appearances in the old format of the competition, the most for a Mexican club, alongside Monterrey.
Pachuca qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup by winning the 2024 CONCACAF, beating MLS Columbus crew 3-0 in the final. This is their sixth title, more than any other club since the turn of the century.
However, domestically, Pachuca's performance is not positive. Pachuca are 16th out of 18 teams in Liga MX Apertura 2024-2025 but have improved in Clausura, finishing 9th before being eliminated by Club America in the quarter-finals.
Salomon Rondon - a former striker of West Brom, Newcastle and Everton - is a highlight for Pachuca this season. He leads the team with 20 goalscoring appearances (15 goals, 5 assists) throughout the campaign and has taken a total of 102 shots - more than any of his teammates.
Meanwhile, Salzburg won the Austrian national championship for 10 consecutive seasons from 2013 2014 to 2022-2023. However, they have finished second behind Sturm Graz in the last two campaigns.
Luckily for Salzburg, the UEFA rankings - used to decide which team is eligible - are four years. Salzburg are the ninth qualified team in the rankings, making them the lowest-ranked UEFA team to qualify.
Their attack threat is Oscar Gloukh, who has contributed 11 goals and 8 assists in all competitions in the 2024-2025 season. His total of 19 goals is the most for Salzburg. And only two players in the tournament have more than 8 assists from Gloukh.
Predicting the result
Supercomputer Opta believes Salzburg will win this match, but only very narrowly. They have a 41.8% chance, slightly better than their opponent's 31.8%. The remaining 26.4% chance is a draw.
Score prediction: Pachuca 1-2 Salzburg
Expected lineup:
Salzburg: Zawieschitzky, Dedic, Gadou, Baidoo, Terzic, Bidstrup, Kawamura, Vertessen, Gloukh, Nene, Ratkov.
Pachuca: Moreno, Rodriguez, Cabral, Barreto, Aceves, Pedraza, Bautista, Idrissi, Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Rondon.
The match between Salzburg and Pachuca takes place at 5:00 a.m. on June 19 (Vietnam time).
