Discover the three breakout stars who shone brightest at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, where PSG and Chelsea battled in a thrilling final after stunning wins over Real Madrid and Fluminense.
After a thrilling month of action, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup has drawn to a close. After dominant semifinal victories against Real Madrid and Fluminense, respectively, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea closed the show on July 13th in a thrilling final at MetLife Stadium. Now, however, both finalists must return to their usual commitments.
The Parisians are the dominant force in world football at present, a status confirmed by their thumping 5-0 victory against Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final. Popular online betting outlets now expect them to claim the European crown again, while the team they faced in the Club World Cup final is also earmarked as contenders. The latest online betting odds currently make PSG a 5/1 favorite to retain the title they won so impressively in Munich, while Chelsea are listed as a 16/1 shot in their return to European football's most elite competition.
But while plenty of PSG and Chelsea players shone en route to helping their side reach the Club World Cup final, some others also made a name for themselves on the beautiful game's grandest stage.
Real Madrid headed into the Club World Cup as the favorites to lift the trophy. However, their backers were in for an almighty shock in Los Blancos' opening game when it was announced that star striker Kylian Mbappe wouldn't feature due to illness. Step up, Gonzalo Garcia.
July 21, 2025
The 21-year-old academy product had only just been introduced to the Bernabeu faithful as he featured in a handful of games at the back end of the domestic season. However, with the maverick Frenchman sidelined, the youngster was announced as the man to lead the line in Xabi Alonso's first few games as Real's manager. And boy, did he repay his manager's show of faith.
Garcia netted Los Blancos' opening goal of the tournament in a 1-1 draw against Al Hilal in their first game. He was then on song once again in Real's crucial final group game, netting the third in a 3-0 win against Red Bull Salzburg to secure the top spot in Group H. Once the knockout stage got underway, he would prove that he was already the man for the big occasion.
Garcia netted the only goal of the game as his side beat Juventus 1-0 in the Round of 16. He would then bag the opener in a thrilling 3-2 victory against Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals. That strike ensured that the 21-year-old was a joint-top scorer in the tournament with four goals, and he is expected to build on his exploits in the States this summer by enjoying a breakout 2025/26 campaign in Spain.
Unlike the aforementioned Garcia, Bayern Munich's Michael Olise was far from an unproven commodity. After bursting onto the scene with Crystal Palace, the Frenchman moved to the Allianz Arena last summer and played a starring role in helping the Bavarians reclaim the Bundesliga crown. However, at the Club World Cup, he proved that he was one of the world's very best.
The 23-year-old showed no mercy in Bayern's opener against New Zealand amateurs Auckland City, scoring twice and assisting two more in a record-breaking 10-0 drubbing. He was then the thorn in the side of Argentinian giants Boca Juniors, keeping his cool to silence a raucous partisan crowd as he netted an 84th-minute winner.
Those two games announced that Olise belonged in the same category as the likes of Bukayo Saka and Vinicius Junior, and while Bayern would eventually bow out in the quarterfinals, they wouldn't head back across the Atlantic before Olise had announced himself as a superstar.
One team that many were excited to see tested against the planet's best was Saudi outfit Al Hilal. Over the last two and a half years, clubs from Saudi Arabia have made headlines for their whopping spending spree, with superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Sadio Mane all heading to the country in recent years. Al Hilal have certainly been no strangers to splashing the cash.
The 19-time Pro League champions have brought in the likes of Joao Cancelo, Ruben Neves, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and talismanic striker Aleksandr Mitrovic in recent years. However, with the latter of that quartet out injured for the Club World Cup, the burden of goalscoring fell onto Brazilian Marcos Leonardo.
Al Hilal forked out €40m to sign the striker from Benfica 18 months ago, and while he has scored some crucial goals domestically in the time since, it was his displays in the Club World Cup that announced him to the world. Leonardo netted the second in a 2-0 win in his side's crunch third group game against Pachuca, a result that helped his side finish as the surprise group runners-up behind Real Madrid. Then, he shocked the world as he netted a brace in a stunning 4-3 upset against tournament favorites Manchester City in the round of 16, including the 112th-minute winner.
Al Hilal would bravely bow out in the quarterfinals, but their Brazilian hitman has proven to be a reliable source of goals. If Mitrovic leaves the club and heads back to Europe as expected, then they will feel safe in the knowledge that Leonardo will be the man to lead them to any future glories.
