German giants FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will feature in three of those matches, including the opener at TQL Stadium between Bayern and New Zealand’s Auckland City on Sunday.
Austrian side FC Red Bull Salzburg then plays Liga MX side CF Pachuca on Wednesday, and Dortmund plays South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns FC on June 21 before concluding the group stage against South Korean side Ulsan HD on June 25.
Here are five things to know about the tournament and games being played at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium:
1. The big picture
The tournament field includes 12 teams from Europe (UEFA), six from South America (CONMEBOL), four from Asia (AFC), four from Africa (CAF), four from North, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) and one from Oceania (OFC).
Teams were drawn into eight groups of four teams. The top two in each group advance to the knockout rounds, when the competition moves onto a round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final, set to take place July 13 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
TQL Stadium is one of the 12 venues hosting games.
Among the teams competing elsewhere in the tournament are newly crowned UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain of France, as well as fellow European giants Manchester City (English Premier League), Real Madrid (Spain’s La Liga) and Inter Milan (Italian Serie A). Three teams from the U.S. are competing, including Inter Miami, which got the U.S. host berth, and Seattle Sounders and LAFC, which got in based on their performance in MLS.
2. Americans coming from abroad
Seven Americans playing abroad will feature in this tournament, including three in Cincinnati with BVB Dortmund: Gio Reyna, Cole Campbell and Mathis Albert.
Reyna is the biggest name of that trio, as a fixture with the U.S. national team in recent years, but he’s been struggling to get playing time lately with Dortmund.
BVB coach Niko Kovač said in a Zoom call Wednesday he doesn’t feel any pressure to play Americans just because the tournament is in front of a U.S. audience but he hopes to get every player time on the pitch if results and game situations allow for it. His squad wants to win and fielding the best lineups are a priority.
Campbell is a U.S. youth national team player who joined Dortmund last summer after he turned 18. Albert is a 16-year-old academy player who was called into the squad for the tournament.
Other Americans in the tournament, though not appearing in Cincinnati, are: Gaga Slonina (Chelsea), Josh Wynder (Portugal side Benfica), Weston McKennie (Juventus) and Tim Weah (Juventus).
3. Connecting to local German heritage
Bayern Munich and Dortmund especially are making an effort to expand their respective club’s footprint in the United States, and Cincinnati provides a unique opportunity to connect to a city rooted in German heritage.
Local and regional supporters of Bayern Munich planned a few meetups this weekend, including two on gameday at The Pitch, starting at 9:30-10:30 a.m. Sunday before FC Bayern Munich’s match against Auckland City and then picking back up around 2:30 p.m. after the match.
Dortmund sent representatives to Cincinnati in March, along with some members of its U.S.-based supporters group, to scout out the environment of the stadium and city during an FC Cincinnati match. They also connected with FCC supporters groups during that trip and could have a strong following with two games at TQL Stadium allowing local soccer fans a chance to feel more connected to the team.
4. An underdog to support
Bayern Munich and Dortmund will get the most attention as two of the top seven teams in the tournament, according to The Athletic’s full rankings of the field. Bayern Munich actually ranks first on that list, while Dortmund is seventh.
However, those that like a good Cinderella story might want to latch on to Auckland City. The club from New Zealand is the only amateur team in the field and features unpaid players who work day jobs in other professions.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Auckland City, accustomed to playing in front of les than 1,000 fans, qualified by beating Papua New Guinea’s Hekari United 2-0 to win the Oceania Champions League for the 13th time in 18 years in April. Rated the 4,957th best team in the world in the Opta Power Rankings, Auckland City had the misfortune of drawing Bayern for its first game – one of the most lopsided matchups of the tournament – but it makes for a good underdog story.
5. One-of-a-kind experience
Many teams in the field are already used to playing clubs from other countries in continental tournaments, but now they have a chance to see playing styles and opponents they otherwise wouldn’t ever face.
Dortmund, for example, plays competition from three different continents, starting with Fluminense from Brazil prior to arriving in Cincinnati ahead of its June 21 and June 25 matches against Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) and Ulsan HD (South Korea), respectively.
“It’s something new and something nice to be honest,” Kovac said. “Nobody knows everything of each other as opponents, but I think we have three different types of play, the Brazilian team is ball possession, a bit controlled football to keep the ball, then the Korean team is aggressive, fast and quick and Sundowns is more to the side of the Brazilian team [style].”
Ulsan is ranked 31st by The Athletic, Mamelodi Sundowns are 26th.
The other match taking place in Cincinnati - between FC Salzburg (22nd) and Pachuca (25th) – brings together two teams facing a lot of uncertainty. Pachuca coach Guillermo Almada, the man who led the team to a continental title in 2024, resigned in May, and former Mexico national team coach Jaime Lozano took over on short notice.
Salzburg was a perennial Austrian champion and Champions League mainstay a couple years ago but only avoided landing in the third-tier Conference League by a point. Pep Lijnders, Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant at Liverpool and now on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City staff, was appointed as head coach last summer but was then fired before Christmas. Results improved after that but Salzburg is considered the weakest European team in the competition.
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