Chelsea Shocks The World To Defeat PSG In Club World Cup Final

Chelsea is the champion of the FIFA 2025 Club World Cup after defeating PSG 3-0 at MetLife stadium in New Jersey.

Show Business At The FIFA 2025 Club World Cup

The pre-match ceremony at the FIFA 2025 Club World Cup was as extravagant as one would imagine. The President of the United States was in attendance, Robbie Williams sang the official song of the tournament and various flags and shiny inflatables covered the pitch for what felt like an eternity. Should we expect all of this and more at the FIFA 2026 World Cup?

Eventually, the game started. With players finishing their warm up a lot earlier than usual to allow time for the festivities. It wasn’t ideal from a sporting point of view, nor was it compelling entertainment, but this entire tournament has had of American show business to it. Kick-off followed cries of ‘let’s get ready to rumble’ and a 10 second countdown eight minutes after it was originally scheduled.

Cole Palmer Catapults Chelsea Ahead

Chelsea had the best of the opening period. Cole Palmer came very close once, and on the second occasion he made absolutely no mistake. Malo Gusto broke into the PSG box and teed up Palmer after his own attempt was blocked. 1-0 Chelsea.

As he so often does Cole Palmer opened up his body beautifully to put a left-footed strike past the goalkeeper. A Lionel Messi-esque finish, his signature move, a shot cradled like a pass into the arms of the bottom corner. Chelsea defended on the front foot and stood up to PSG like few teams have been able to in 2025.

Then Palmer did it again. Bang. PSG had barely switched on after the first-half water break. This time the Englishman picked up the ball in space on the right, cut into the box and sold the defence a fantastic dummy. Then he executed the exact same finish once again. Such finesse from Cole Palmer made one forget the pre-match facade. He is a special player.

Just before half-time Chelsea added a third. New signing João Pedro dinked neatly over Gianluigi Donnarumma to make it 3-0 at the break. Nobody anticipated this scoreline but the beautiful game is just that for this very reason. The Brazilian’s composed finish follows a brace in the semi-final against his boyhood club Fluminense and put Chelsea into dreamland.

Chelsea Finish The Job

The second period was disjointed and that suited Chelsea. PSG pressed without really finding the usual rhythm and Chelsea looked dangerous on the counter.

56 minutes into the game the fans at MetLife stadium started to cheer every consecutive Chelsea pass, goading the team from Paris. Moments later Enzo Fernández of Argentina was replaced by the Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos for Chelsea. The Argentina international appeared to be holding his left hamstring.

The humidity and summer soccer was definitely getting to these players that had made it all the way to the July 13th final. Désiré Doué and João Pedro both went down with cramp just after the hour mark. Pedro was replaced by Liam Delap, another new signing, who made an instant impact on the counter and almost put Chelsea 4-0 up. Then it was Reece James’ turn to fall to the floor, players were dropping like flies.

With 10 minutes remaining Delap was in again, but once more he was denied by Donnarumma. It wouldn’t matter in the end. João Neves was sent off for PSG moments later. The Portuguese midfielder pulled the hair of Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella off the ball and the French and European champion would finish the game with 10 men.

The clock ticked out and Chelsea was eventually crowned the winner of the first ever FIFA Club World Cup of this kind. PSG is the best team in the world and were big favourites before kick-off, but a stunning first-half from Chelsea turned everything on it’s head. The Blues will wear golden FIFA 2025 Club World Cup champions badge on its jersey for the next four years.