It took just 45 minutes for Chelsea to dismantle Paris Saint-Germain and lift the first edition of FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup. A 3–0 win in the final, powered by a brace from Cole Palmer and a clinical finish from João Pedro, crowned the London club as world champions for a second time.
But history suggests that global success doesn’t always lead to smooth sailing.
Over the past four editions, each champion has entered the following season with momentum — and yet, none of them managed to reclaim European glory or fully dominate across all fronts.
Here’s what happened to the last four Club World Cup winners.
Manchester City – 2023
Coming off a treble-winning season in 2022/23, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City rolled into the 2023 Club World Cup in cruise control. They barely broke a sweat against Urawa Red Diamonds and Fluminense to secure the trophy.
However, the season that followed didn’t hit the same heights. City won the Premier League again — a historic fourth in a row — but were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Real Madrid and lost the FA Cup final to Manchester United.
For most clubs, that would still be a triumph. But for Guardiola’s side, it felt like a slight drop-off.
Real Madrid – 2022
Real Madrid claimed their fifth Club World Cup title in 2022 after breezing past Al Ahly and Al-Hilal. It was business as usual on the global stage, but back in Spain, the cracks began to show.
Despite winning the Copa del Rey and UEFA Super Cup early in the 2022/23 season, Los Blancos finished ten points behind Barcelona in La Liga. Their Champions League campaign ended in a humbling 5–1 aggregate loss to Manchester City in the semi-finals. Ancelotti’s squad looked tired, and questions about the team’s long-term direction started to surface.
Chelsea – 2021
The Blues’ first taste of world champion status came in early 2022, thanks to a 2–1 extra-time win over Palmeiras in the delayed 2021 Club World Cup final. Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea had just won the Champions League and were flying high.
But the 2021/22 season fizzled. They lost both domestic cup finals on penalties, exited the Champions League in the quarter-finals, and finished third in the Premier League — a respectable finish, but a long way off the top two. The optimism of their global crown quickly turned into uncertainty, as off-pitch turmoil involving the club’s ownership only added more instability.
Bayern Munich – 2020
Bayern Munich swept the world stage in February 2021, beating Tigres UANL in the Club World Cup final in Qatar. It was their sixth trophy in nine months, having already claimed the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and German Super Cup.
But the following months proved more challenging. Bayern won another Bundesliga title but failed to go deep in the Champions League, bowing out in the quarter-finals to PSG. That 2020/21 campaign marked the end of an era for Hansi Flick, who stepped down to take over the German national team.
So, what now for Chelsea?
This version of Chelsea wasn’t expected to go all the way, not after a shaky domestic run that saw them finish fourth in the Premier League and crash out of the League Cup early. But under Enzo Maresca, something clicked in the summer of 2025.
They cruised past Benfica, Palmeiras, and Fluminense before putting on a first-half clinic against PSG in the final. Palmer’s emergence as the team’s creative engine has been one of the standout stories of the year. And João Pedro, who joined the squad from Brighton just weeks before the tournament, already looks like a bargain despite the eye-watering fee.
Whether this translates into Premier League or Champions League success next season remains to be seen. The Club World Cup title is a statement, but the last few winners have learned the hard way that global dominance doesn’t always carry over.
Chelsea have four years to wear the FIFA world champions badge on their kits. Now comes the hard part: proving it meant something.
