Club World Cup: Is European soccer’s superiority being exposed as a myth?

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — European soccer’s superiority had, throughout the 21st century, become self-evident; inescapable and irreversible; extreme and presumed. It was apparent in the salaries and prices of players, in the exodus of talent from the Americas and Africa, in the prestige of the UEFA Champions League and, twice per year, on the field. At the former Club World Cup, the seven-team version played each winter, since 2007, European teams played 34 games. They lost once.

So they strolled into this expanded version, the 2025 Club World Cup, as runaway favorites. They negotiated outside appearance fees. Their supporters assumed they’d waltz to the latter stages, untouched.

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Instead, halfway through the group stage, they’ve been humbled.

In six games so far against South American opposition, they’ve lost two, drawn three, won one.

They have also dropped seven points to the Saudi Pro League, MLS and Liga MX.

Their early stumbles have delighted fans from other continents. They’ve surprised Western pundits. And they’ve ignited a combustible debate:

Is European club dominance a myth? Or at least exaggerated?

The two sides of the Europe-South America debate

On one side, there are the raw results and the performances here over the past week. Flamengo didn’t just beat Chelsea 3-1 on Friday in Philadelphia; at times, it pummeled the free-spending English Premier League giants. And Fluminense — Brazil’s 13th best team last year — held Borussia Dortmund to a 0-0 draw and outplayed what was, a month ago, the hottest team in Germany.

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In almost every single match between South American and European foes, there was evidence that the gap is slimmer than most Europeans (and non-Hispanic Americans) realize. Botafogo’s upset of PSG was a so-called “smash-and-grab,” but even smash-and-grabs require a certain level of physical, technical and tactical quality. Boca Juniors, similarly, bellied up to Bayern Munich and snatched a second-half equalizer, before conceding late. There was also Monterrey 1, Inter Milan 1; and Al Hilal 1, Real Madrid 1, “a very balanced match,” as Al Hilal fullback João Cancelo said afterward.

On paper, per Opta, these were games between the 9th best team in the world and the 81st; between No. 15 and No. 238; No. 4 and 132; No. 7 and 131; No. 6 and 130; No. 8 and 77. On the field, they looked very different, and begged the question: Is Opta wrong?

Are the assumptions of European preeminence wrong? Were we all wrong?

But on the other side of the debate, there are excuses — or at least other explanations, some legitimate.

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There is the timing of this tournament, which falls at the end of 10-month European seasons, but mid-campaign for clubs from Brazil, Argentina and MLS. Whereas South American teams built up to the Club World Cup, weary European bodies and minds were ready to wind down. Most got a couple weeks off before reconvening with teammates 7-10 days before their Club World Cup openers. “There are many tournaments that they’ve had to play, and perhaps they’ll arrive with some fatigue,” Inter Miami forward Luis Suarez predicted before the competition began. “I think there will be some surprise results.”

There is also the suffocating U.S. summer heat, which has seemed to affect European teams more than others.

“We are used to the heat,” Al Hilal’s Brazilian winger Malcom said after his team hung with Real Madrid on a humid 90-degree afternoon in Miami. Atlético Madrid’s Spanish midfielder Marcos Llorente, on the other hand, called an 88-degree afternoon in Southern California “impossible.”

There is travel to which the Europeans aren’t accustomed. There are games that kick off after all their friends and family back home are asleep. There are all sorts of confounding variables that preclude the Club World Cup from being an accurate point of comparison.

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And most of all, there is the unavoidable sense, or narrative, that the European teams just don’t really care.

Many players do, to be clear. But do they care, with every last ounce of their being, like some of their South American counterparts do? There has undoubtedly been an intensity gap that has neutralized the quality gap, and helped some South American sides show well. To them, these games are among the most significant in recent club history. To the Europeans, the Champions League and, in some cases, their domestic league were and are more prestigious.

Public attitudes toward the Club World Cup have also colored this excuse. While European fans have stayed home, and in some cases slept through games, supporters of South American and North African clubs have filled stadiums with balloons, flags, banners and unceasing noise. They’ve turned Palmeiras-Porto and Boca Juniors-Benfica and Flamengo-Chelsea into quasi-home games for the South American teams. That, too, is an equalizing factor.

The conclusion

None of that entirely explains the upsets. But there is nuance in the conclusion that the gap is somewhat narrower than many thought — because there are also gaps within Europe and within South America.

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There is a massive gulf, for example, between Bayern Munich, which ultimately outclassed Boca here on Friday night; and Porto, which finished third in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, closer to fourth-place Braga than the top two.

There is also a massive gulf between Palmeiras or Flamengo, the two most powerful teams in South America’s richest league, and most of the other non-European teams at this Club World Cup.

What we probably overestimated was the distance between the Portos and the Inter Miamis; between the Dortmunds and the Fluminenses; between the Benficas and Bocas; between the Chelseas and the Flamengos. Most of the teams Porto and Benfica play, weekend after weekend, are probably worse than the top half of MLS — and certainly worse than Boca, River Plate and much of the Brasileirão. Some of the Brasileirão, and certainly the top two, meanwhile, could compete with the top halves of the top flights in Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

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There is still, though, a distance to the tippy-top.

“There is an elite in soccer that is superior,” Flamengo coach Filipe Luis, who played for Atlético Madrid and Chelsea, said Friday. “Brazilian clubs are competitive at the second level of European football. Flamengo will not devalue themselves against any opponent. But the squads of the elite are better. That’s a fact.”