Following its Club World Cup guide, Sports Talk United here presents the Group E of the competition, which will take place in the United States from June 14 to July 13, 2025.
Which teams are in Group E of the Club World Cup?
Inter Milan, River Plate, Urawa Red Diamons and CF Monterrey make up the Group E.
Serie A giants Internazionale will be strong favourites to finish top of the group, despite their humiliating 5-0 defeat to PSG in the UEFA Champions League Final just a couple of weeks ago. To make matters worse, Simone Inzaghi left his position as manager only three days later to take charge of Al-Hilal (who will be appearing in Group H), and despite Inter since hiring former Parma manager Christian Chivu to replace Inzaghi, the Italian club are clearly in a vulnerable position, and their path to the knockouts may be harder than expected.
River Plate will be targeting the knockouts as well and arrive in excellent form, going unbeaten across 90 minutes in their last 18 matches (their last defeat was on the 1st March), during which, they won their CONMEBOL Libertadores group. They are Argentina’s most successful club ever, winning 38 Primera Divisions, four Copa Libertadores, and one Intercontinental Cup.
Compared to other teams at this tournament, Monterrey don’t have the same level of prestige or historical success, winning just five domestic league titles in their 80 year history, and aren’t even considered among Mexico’s ‘big four’ clubs. They are, however, one of the most successful clubs in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, winning five titles since 2011 (including 3 in a row between 2011 and 2013).
Similarly, Urawa Red Diamonds have had limited success in the J-League, winning just a single J1 title in 2006. Despite this, the Japanese club have managed to win three AFC Champions League titles (2007, 2017, 2022). They’re currently sitting in 3rd position in the league, having won five of the last 10 games (with three draws and two defeats).
How did each Group E team qualify for the Club World Cup?
Inter – Italy (UEFA)
UEFA were allocated 12 places for the CWC, with 4 going to the last 4 winners of the UEFA Champions League, and another 8 going to the best-ranked teams in UEFA’s 4-year ranking (with a maximum of 2 clubs from a single nation). As Real Madrid won 2 titles, this extended to the 9 best-ranked eligible teams. Internazionale were 4th, partly due to them finishing as runners-up in the 2023 Champions League.
River Plate – Argentina (CONMEBOL)
CONMEBOL were allocated 6 places for the CWC (4 winners, 2 best-ranked teams). River Plate qualified as the best-ranked eligible team in the CONMEBOL 4-year ranking.
Monterrey – Mexico (CONCACAF)
Qualified as the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League winners.
Urawa Red Diamonds – Japan (AFC)
Qualified as the 2022 AFC Champions League winners.
Group E match schedule: Key dates and fixtures
River Plate and Urawa Red Diamons open the action in Group E. This will be followed by all the other games leading up to June 25, when the two matches for the third round will be played at the same time.
- June 17: River Plate vs Urawa Red Diamonds – Lumen Field, Seattle (3pm EDT, 8pm BST, 9pm
CEST) - June 17: Monterrey vs Internazionale – Rose Bowl, Pasadena (9pm EDT, 2am BST, 3am CEST)
- June 21: Internazionale vs Urawa Red Diamonds – Lumen Field, Seattle (3pm EDT, 8pm BST,
9pm CEST) - June 21: River Plate vs Monterrey – Rose Bowl, Pasadena (9pm EDT, 2am BST, 3am CEST)
- June 25: Internazionale vs River Plate – Lumen Field, Seattle (9pm EDT, 2am BST, 3am CEST)
- June 25: Urawa Red Diamonds vs Monterrey – Rose Bowl, Pasadena (9pm EDT, 2am BST, 3am
CEST)
Key players to watch in Group E
Lautaro Martinez — Inter
Inter’s very own ‘captain fantastic’; the 27 year old Argentinian leads the team from the front, becoming the club’s top goalscorer in each of the last four seasons.
Unlike many players this summer, Martinez will be physically ready for the tournament, having missed the final four Serie A matches of the season though injury or being rested for the final stages of the Champions League. What’s more, after such a chastening loss to PSG in the final, and with a new manager on the sidelines, he’ll want to make his mark on the tournament.
Franco Mastantuono — River Plate
At just 17 years old, you’d be forgiven for not hearing about this Argentinian wonderkid just yet, (especially as there’s a certain other 17-year old setting the world alight), but this tournament is the perfect opportunity to start paying attention. Despite the lack of years, he’s already made 61 appearances across all competitions for River, scoring 10 goals (mostly with a vicious left foot) and assisting seven.
Such is the excitement around him, that some of the biggest clubs in European football have been attempting to sign him before the start of the tournament. As is stands, Real Madrid will trigger his €45million release clause, and sign him on August 14th, when he turns 18.
Sergio Canales — CF Monterrey
If you think you recognise the name, you’d be right. The former Real Madrid and Spain international midfielder has been at the heart of everything attacking for Monterrey this season, scoring 18 and assisting 12 in just 42 matches.
That works out as a goal involvement every 117 minutes! Despite being 34, he has played more minutes than any of his teammates by far, and influences the end of games as much as the start of them. He was also recently joined at Monterrey by former teammate Sergio Ramos (yes, THAT Sergio Ramos).
Marius Hoibraten — Urawa Red Diamonds
The 30 year old Norwegian centre back has played every single minute for Urawa this season, and even took over as captain back in February, after club captain Takahiro Sekine was benched. Though a defender, he is also a potent weapon at set pieces, and has scored 38 goals and assisted 51 across his 385 games at Red Diamonds, which works out as a goal involvement every 4.3 games.
What’s at stake in Group E?
Whoever reaches the knockouts will next face a team from Group F (Brazil’s Fluminense, Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, South Korea’s Ulsan HD, and South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns). The winner of Group E would face the runner-up of Group F, and the runner-up of Group E would face the Group F winners.
Winning Group E would also put the side in the top half of the draw, and would play in Charlotte, North Carolina next. Going through as runners-up would put the team in the bottom-half of the draw, and would play their next match in Atlanta, Georgia.
