All eight groups in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup consist of four teams. Group B will include these four teams: Chelsea, Flamengo, LAFC, and Esperance de Tunis. Those four will fight for the top two spots in the group to advance to the tournament’s knockout stages. Here are their odds on DraftKings Sportsbook to advance:
Let’s take a look at the years all four clubs have had, then predict who will advance and make our picks.
Chelsea
It’s been an interesting season for Chelsea, showcasing the standards of big clubs well. The squad finished fourth in the Premier League, a strong result guaranteeing Champions League football next season. They also stampeded through the Conference League, UEFA’s third-tier club competition. The majority of Premier League clubs would be ecstatic for this result, but standards are different at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues weren’t a realistic contender for the Premier League title. They were playing football below their quality in the Conference League, and anything less than a trophy would have been viewed as a failure. It’s not a trophy they’ll be immensely proud of, either. Chelsea have won the Premier League, Champions League, and Europa League in the past decade. This is a step on the journey back to the mountaintop, not the destination.
Success in the CWC would be another step on returning to the top of European football. They won the CWC in 2021 just after a Champions League win. Winning more tournaments attracts more talent, talent wins games, and wins lead to more trophies. A deep run in this tournament could boost Chelsea back into the top tier of the top tier.
Flamengo
No team in Brazilian football is hotter than Flamengo. After 11 matches, they lead the table with a goal differential of +20; nobody else in Serie A is in double digits.
Their 2022 victory in the Copa Libertadores delivered their berth in the CWC. Now they’re one of the favorites to move on to the knockout stages from Group D. If their defense can hold up and they can find crucial goals, this team could make some noise in the elimination phase.
LAFC
LAFC has existed in Major League Soccer for just over a decade. It’s extremely impressive for an expansion team to have an MLS title and an Open Cup championship in that first decade. They’re also on pace to make the playoffs yet again in the 2025 season.
LAFC and Flamengo project to duel for the second qualifying spot in this group. The scrappy MLS side will need to take care of business against Esperance de Tunis, hope not to be destroyed by Chelsea, and steal a knockout stage berth with a win over the Brazilian side. It’s a precarious path, but an achievable one. Hopefully, Hugo Lloris’s expertise in net can go a long way for them.
Espérance de Tunis
This is another example of the levels to club football. Espérance has won an incredible 34 league titles in Tunisian Ligue 1, 21 titles clear of second place. They wrapped up another title this season, adding further to their dominance over Tunisian football. Unfortunately for them, that’s where it ends.
One of the top clubs in Africa, the Tunisian champions are still no match for most European sides. There’s good reason why they’re listed 10/1 to advance. LAFC, a middle-tier MLS club, is close to a 50/50 shot to advance. The levels between clubs and leagues are often enormous. It would be a minor miracle for Esperance to eke out a win in the group stage.
Prediction and Pick
Chelsea might as well be a shoo-in. There isn’t much value in picking them at -900 to advance and -200 to win the group as they’ll run away with this one. With Chelsea’s quality and depth of talent, anything less than a nine-point group stage would be surprising.
I like picking LAFC to advance at +130. The second qualification spot can get hairy when the gap between the presumed group winner and group loser is this large. Let’s tease out the hypotheticals here.
Chelsea will be favored to win all three contests. Espérance will be favored to lose all three. An outright win by either L.A. or Flamengo would settle the issue, barring a massive upset in another fixture. If they draw, it comes down to the goal difference in the other contests. The fixture between L.A. and Flamengo, which will likely decide the second advancing team from Group D, comes on the third match day.
Having all the cards on the table going into this contest is an all-around advantage. Whoever is ahead in goal difference will be allowed to play a more conservative brand of ball, especially with a lead. I think L.A. has a good shot in this one, assuming they handle business against Espérance, and could qualify at the death.
