Juve-Napoli: match from a Club World Cup perspective with Lazio in the background

Bianconeri are currently favorites but Napoli are masters of their own destiny, despite a difficult path. Sarri, however, needs a miracle

Salvatore Malfitano

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malfitoto

The rivalry between Napoli and Juventus knows no boundaries and now enters a new dimension, that of the Club World Cup with the new 32-team format. The expanded edition will make its debut in the summer of 2025 and the last free place available, in fact, is contested by the two Italian teams, to which is also added Lazio who on paper is still in the running (to qualify, the Biancocelesti must reach the Champions League final). At the moment the Bianconeri are ahead of Napoli in the ranking for the competition, but Calzona’s team will be able to defeat Juve if they win the return match against Barcelona and, once they reach the quarter-finals, win one match or draw both. If the Azzurri were to qualify with a draw against the Catalans, more points would be needed to climb the table and it would be necessary to reach the semi-finals. In any case, the possible elimination of Napoli in the round of 16 would automatically qualify Juventus.

the situation

To summarize the situation, Europe will have twelve teams in the tournament. There are four winners of the Champions League from 2021 to 2024, so Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City are already certain of participation. The other eight will derive from a special ranking, the criteria of which have been specifically studied by FIFA. Based on the scores obtained so far, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter, Porto and Benfica are already certain of their places. So the winner of the Champions League and three clubs established with the ranking are missing. It should be noted that each federation has a limit of two teams. Below is the ranking.

1) Bayern Munich (Germany) – 100 points, qualified

2) Paris Saint-Germain (France) – 79 points, qualified

3) Inter (Italy) – 76 points, qualified

4) Porto (Portugal) – 68 points, qualified

5) Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – 68 points

6) Atletico Madrid (Spain) – 62 points

7) Leipzig (Germany) – 61 points, so they would not qualify for the limit of two clubs per association

8) Barcelona – 56 points, so they would not qualify for the limit of two clubs per association

9) Benfica (Portugal) – 52 points

10) Juventus – 47 points (last qualified)

11) Naples – 42 points

12) Salzburg – 40 points





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