Chelsea and PSG decide the Club World Cup driven by billionaire owners and similar projects

EAST RUTHERFORD - Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain will decide this Sunday, starting at 4 p.m. (Brasília time), who will lift the Club World Cup trophy for the first time. The English and French sides face off at MetLife Stadium with one thing in common: both reached the top thanks to billion-dollar investments from their owners, tycoons Todd Boehly and Nasser Al-Khelaifi . The two clubs' investment profiles in building their squads are also similar, so their priority is to invest in young talent.

Since May 2022, Chelsea has been owned by a group of businessmen led by American Todd Boehly, owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. He purchased the club for £4.2 billion (R$26 billion at the time) from Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, who decided to sell his shares to avoid British government sanctions after Russian troops invaded Ukraine in late February of that year.

Like Abramovic, Boehly kept Chelsea as a key player in the transfer market. In this transfer window alone, €243 million (R$1.5 billion) was spent on signings, according to figures from Transfermarkt.

A final appearance offers coach Enzo Maresca a chance for redemption after being questioned due to his difficulties reaching the top with a large squad that cost over €1 billion last season, with the acquisition of expensive and talented young players. In charge since June of last year, he has only won the Conference League, a minor title in Europe.

The match will be a game of chess, Maresca compared. "I don't believe in chess moves during matches, but the coach needs to react when the other coach reacts. It will be a game of chess against Luis Enrique, but we'll try to have fun."

For Argentine Enzo Fernández, Chelsea will face the "best team in the world," considered the favorite. "But we have a great squad and we'll know how to use our weapons," he emphasized. "This title is very important at the club level."

Fernández isn't sure if he'll have his partner Moisés Caicedo, with whom he forms one of the best defensive midfield partnerships in the world, at his side. The Ecuadorian is recovering from a sprained left ankle and didn't train on Friday.

Up front, one of the protagonists is Portuguese Pedro Neto, who wants to dedicate the victory to his friend Diogo Jota, who died two weeks ago in a car accident. "We've done good things and improved a lot. We all believe this team can do more."

At PSG, everyone is the star

Considered one of the richest men in the world, 51-year-old Al-Khelaifi has been at the helm of PSG for a decade and doesn't mind spending stratospheric sums to make the club dominate world football. A former professional tennis player and member of the Qatari royal family, the owner of Qatar Sports Investments first managed to make the club sovereign in France. The project reached its peak with the Champions League victory this year, following a significant change.

After getting rid of Neymar , Messi , and Mbappé, PSG continued to spend huge sums to bring in key players. The difference is that none of them are as caliber as the three, but they all play for the team, as coach Luis Enrique values and dictates.

A profound change in the management's recruitment strategy revamped the team, now made up of many young players, and the plan paid off. The French side won everything they competed in last season, including the Champions League for the first time. They are now seeking the World Cup – the team has never won the FIFA-organized tournament, in any form.

The explanation for this change in the reinforcement policy lies in the management of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a fund linked to the Qatari government, which became the majority owner of PSG in 2011. The Middle Eastern country needed to sign big stars to make the team famous before the 2022 World Cup, hosted by the Arab nation. The other reason is simple: the sporting failure of the stars on the field.

"It's a team with 11 stars," Luis Enrique defined. "We don't want one star, we want 11, and that's what we have. In fact, we have up to 15 stars. We were able to reach this compromise with the board's agreement to have 11 to 15 stars. We want stars, of course, but they play for the team."

The strategy has changed, investment has fallen slightly, but the club remains one of the biggest spenders on reinforcements in the world. In 2024-25, it invested more than €239 million (R$1.56 billion) in signings, slightly more than the amount spent on Neymar alone seven years earlier. In 2023-24, the French club spent €454 million (R$3 billion) on new players.

The positioning and movement of PSG's players reveals a rarely seen synchronicity, and the goals shared between different players demonstrate that the star of the group is, indeed, the collective, as all the players emphasize. Everyone is dedicated to scoring, building, and attacking. The heart of the team is the midfield, where Portuguese players João Neves and Vitinha, and Spaniard Fabián Ruiz play.

From the 2020 European Championship runner-up, only Brazilian defender Marquinhos, the team captain, remains. "In recent months, we've really been playing at an excellent level. From a mentality standpoint, the team is ready," assured the defender, who has been with the club for over a decade.

The champion will take home $40 million gross (approximately R$223 million), while the runner-up will receive $30 million (R$166 million). PSG has already raised $106 million so far, and Chelsea has pocketed $104 million. Therefore, with or without the trophy, both will return home with over $130 million.

CHELSEA X PSG

CHELSEA : Sánchez; Reece James, Adarabioyo, Chalobah and Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and Cole Palmer; Pedro Neto, Nkunku and João Pedro. Coach : Enzo Maresca.

PSG : Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Beraldo and Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, João Neves and Fabián Ruiz; Kvaratskhelia, Doué and Dembélé. Manager : Luis Enrique.

REFEREE : Alireza Faghani (Australia).

TIME : 4pm (Brasília time).

LOCA L: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford (USA).

TV : CazéTV, Globo, SporTV, DAZN.