Chelsea receive huge Club World Cup draw boost after FIFA make major decision

Chelsea will avoid playing another European team in the Club World Cup group stage after being seeded in Pot 2 for the draw.

Pot 1 contains the top four qualified teams from the continent, according to FIFA's club ranking system: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. The Blues rank fifth, six points behind PSG and join the other seven teams representing UEFA in the second pot.

However, because they are one of the top four teams within that pot—alongside Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Porto —they will not be drawn into a group with another European team. Instead, they will play one of the four top-ranked South American clubs in Pot 1: Flamengo, Fluminense, Palmeiras or River Plate.

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As such, they will also not face Boca Juniors and recently crowned Copa Libertadores champions Botafogo from Pot 3, as two teams from CONMEBOL cannot be in the same group. Therefore, they will play one of Al Ahly, Al-Hilal, Leon, Monterrey, Ulsan HD or Wydad AC.

Depending on which of those teams they get will affect which teams from Pot 4 they can play. However, ahead of the draw, it can be any of Al Ain, Auckland City, Esperance de Tunis, Inter Miami, Mamelodi Sundowns, Pachuca, Seattle Sounders or Urawa Red Diamonds.

Notably, if they go into Group A or B, the team from Pot 4 will be Inter Miami or the Seattle Sounders, respectively. If that were to happen, they would also be unable to have Leon or Monterrey drawn into their group because teams from CONCACAF cannot play each other at this stage.

All will become clear on Thursday when the draw happens in Miami at 6pm GMT (1pm EST). That is when Chelsea should also find out where and when they will be playing this coming summer.