Chelsea stuns PSG 3-0 to win FIFA Club World Cup

Every game has its own storyline.

In the biggest game on U.S. soil since 1994, Cole Palmer scored twice in the first thirty minutes and João Pedro scored a few minutes before the break to lead Chelsea to victory in the FIFA Club World Cup final at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Winners of the Club World Cup in 2021, Chelsea entered the game as heavy underdogs, not because of their capabilities but because of their opponent. Paris Saint-Germain had been the best team in the world for a better part of the last six months. A little over a month ago, they steamrolled Inter Milan 4-0 in the UEFA Champions League final, capping off a treble-winning season that included Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France.

But Chelsea had other plans.

The European Conference League Champions, who trained out of the Philadelphia Union’s WSFS Sports Complex, opened the game doing to PSG what the French champions had been doing to opponents all spring. They broke PSG’s press early and often and took the game under control, putting the European Champions on their heels in the opening 30 minutes.

Palmer nearly broke the game’s deadlock in the 8th minute when an impressive combo from Enzo Fernandes to João Pedro reached him at the top of the box with a clear line of sight at goal. But the England international’s curling shot missed the top corner by millimeters. PSG flexed its muscle in the 18th minute when Désiré Doué’s shot to the bottom corner was stopped by Robert Sánchez, who had several big saves on the day.

Palmer struck first less than five minutes later when a Sanchez long ball to Malo Gusto down the right side ended at the same spot where Palmer had his previous chance. This time, he calmly struck the ball into the bottom corner to give Chelsea the 1-0 lead.

Palmer wasn’t finished.

Taking a long ball on the run down the right side from Levi Colwill, Palmer cut inside and once again, as if on replay, curled the ball into the lower corner to double Chelsea’s lead and leave the PSG players hanging their heads.

Three minutes from time, Palmer was the provider. Dissecting PSG’s press with ease, Palmer dribbled into PSG’s backline and slipped a through-ball to Joáo Pedro streaking between defenders, and the Brazilian striker chipped Gianluigi Donnarumma to give Chelsea an improbable 3-0 lead before the break. João Pedro also scored both goals against Fluminense in the semis.

Sanchez kept Chelsea’s clean sheet intact with a bottom corner grab in the 41st minute to deny João Neves, but his incredible close-range save to stop Ousmané Dembélé in the 52nd minute was likely the match winner.

With Chelsea staying compact and PSG unable to break their defense, substitute Liam Delap had several chances on the counter to keep PSG honest, but any chance of a PSG comeback faded when João Neves was sent off seven minutes from the end for pulling the hair of Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella.

After winning the Champions League, PSG’s impressive spring form continued into the group stages where they knocked off Atlético Madrid 4-0 to open Group B. They stumbled against Botafogo 1-0 in the Rose Bowl then rebounded to knock off the Seattle Sounders in the final game of the group stage before trouncing Inter Miami 4-0 in Miami during the round of 16. PSG went on to beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the quarterfinals with 9 men then obliterated Real Madrid from start to finish, winning 4-0 in a game that resembled the Euro final. Heading into the final, PSG went 414 minutes without conceding a goal, and two of those games were against teams that won a combined 7 of the last 11 Club World Cups.

Chelsea came into the tournament revived after winning the European Conference League and started with a comfortable win over LAFC in their opener. A 3-1 loss in Philadelphia against a strong Flamengo team put them in a vulnerable position where they needed a win against Espérance de Tunis in the final game of Group D to advance, which they did 3-0. Chelsea handled Benfica 4-1 in the round of 16 then beat Palmeiras 2-1 on July 4 th in the quarterfinals, their third game in Philly. The Blues then knocked off Fluminense 2-0 to secure their spot in the game’s first expanded Club World Cup final.

Despite the scorching mid-afternoon heat, a topic much debated in recent weeks, the pre-game ceremonies pushed the temperature to even higher levels with the tournament’s first national anthem, military flyover, and kickoff hype from legend ring announcer Michael Buffer, all witnessed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt exactly one year ago.

The final marks the end of a successful Club World Cup, the first time FIFA has expanded the competition to 32 teams. In what is expected to be regular event moving forward, soccer’s governing body will likely continue to emulate the world cup format. Following extended seasons, Chelsea and PSG will prepare for an even shorter layoff as most clubs have already begun preseason training. Chelsea’s first preseason game against Bayer Leverkusen will be on August 8th while PSG will face Tottenham in the UEFA Super Cup August 13th.

FIFA will shift its focus to the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., which Philadelphia will also host.