South America has 6 representatives participating in this year's tournament, including 4 from Brazil (Botafogo, Flamengo, Palmeiras and Fluminense), along with 2 teams from Argentina ( River Plate and Boca juniors). It was not until the 10th match of the tournament that a South American team suffered its first loss.
That was Boca juniors' 1-2 defeat to Bayern Munich of Germany. The rest, the other teams all played very well. The teams from Brazil and Argentina have proven that they are capable of defeating strong European teams, to win the FIFA Club World Cup this year.
Copa Libertador Botafogo beat European champions Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in Pasadena, while Flamengo, Brazil's biggest club, came back to beat Chelsea. It is expected that in the knockout round, many South American teams will participate.
One factor that has helped Brazil and Argentina make such an impact is the huge support from fans, who have arrived in large numbers across the US.
"It was great, it was great," said Bayern manager Vincent Kompany when asked about the atmosphere in his team's match against Boca juniors. The stands were bustling and packed with spectators, just like La Bombonera (Boca's home stadium) brought to Miami.
The support for Flamengo in the match against Chelsea in Philadelphia was also very impressive, with the majority of the more than 54,000 spectators coming to the stadium being fans of the Brazilian team.
In the last 11 FIFA Club World Cups, European teams have won all of them. The last time CONMEBOL (South American Football Federation) had a champion team was in 2012, when Corinthians of Sao Paulo defeated Chelsea.
The financial gap is a big difference between European and South American teams. The top 29 teams in Deloitte's 2025 Football Money League Rankings come from the old continent.
Real Madrid topped the list with revenue exceeding 1 billion Euros, while Flamengo came in 30th with 198 million Euros.
However, Flamengo have shown their strength, based on a squad with many experienced players, typically Jorginho of Italy.
Similarly, Fluminense is also playing very well in Group F, having held Germany's Borussia Dortmund to a draw. Fluminense players have played many big matches in their careers. I believe most of these South American teams will make it to the next round," said Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac when asked about the quality of the Brazilian teams.
In contrast to South America, some elite teams from Europe did not play as expected. One of the factors affecting that is the stuffy competition conditions in the US.
In addition, many teams from the old continent have come to the US right at the end of a long and tiring season, while clubs in Brazil and Argentina started their campaign earlier this year.
PSG played nearly 60 matches until the victory in the Champions League final against Inter Milan at the end of May.
Flamengo coach Filipe Luis, a former Atletico Madrid and Chelsea player, said he was surprised that many big teams in Europe did not play well in this year's tournament, because most of them were the elite of football.
Its true that sometimes they dont get used to the weather, but I can say that South American clubs are very competitive, he added.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany stressed that if his players have the same desire and determination as Boca Juniors, they can go far in this year's tournament.
