Trader's Insight: FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Group C Preview & Tips

With there being a lot of unknowns regarding the 2025 Club World Cup, one of Ladbrokes' senior traders shares some valuable insights with our Group C preview.

Chris Wood, Senior Trader with Ladbrokes has provided bettors with an in-depth guide into Club World Cup Group C, allowing those who fancy a punt at this summer's tournament to make more informed picks.

Bayern breezed their domestic league and reached the quarter final of the Champions League but it still felt like a season of underachievement for the Bavarian giants and they will be hopeful of adding some more silverware here.

We are very wary of Harry Kane to be top scorer and have gone short in the market accordingly as Bayern face kiwi semi-pro team Auckland City in their first game which could be an outright annihilation.

Unless Kane suffers an injury in the round international fixtures before the competition begins, I would expect him to start the match and be absolutely merciless in his quest for goals. He will obviously be on penalties as well although Thomas Muller may be given a charity one if he is on the pitch as he completes his Bayern farewell tour.

Michael Olise completed 15 assists in the Bundesliga this season and should provide plenty of chances as well as taking his share of set pieces. Musiala has been injured and possibly won’t start the first game but should be involved as the competition continues. Gnabry and Olise will also be serious goal threats when they are on the field.

Ran Sporting CP close in the Portuguese Primeira before slipping up late on but that was compounded when they lost to the same team in the final of the Cup and they come here looking to bounce back.

Highly rated full back Alvaro Carreras looks to be leaving for Real Madrid before the tournament starts but they will still have the talismanic Angel Di Maria who will look to supply the ammunition for Vangelis Pavlidis before he departs for Rosario Central. Veteran defender Nicolas Otamendi scored six goals this season from 4.5 exPG, all but one of which was scored with his head and he remains a potent threat from set pieces.

However, they could only muster one shot in total in their Champions League game at the Allianz Arena and look short enough in their first game versus Boca so we’ll probably look to take them on here at the current prices.

Boca looked a team in slight disarray as they were dumped out of the Copa Libertadores by Alianza Lima and lost against arch-rivals River Plate in the SuperClasico. Under fire club president and club legend Juan Roman Riquelme did the inevitable and fired coach Fernando Gago and replaced him with a fellow club legend in Miguel Angel Russo.

Russo won the Copa Libertadores in his first stint as Boca manager, the Superliga in his second spell and he and Riquelme will be hoping it is third time lucky here. They have an ageing squad full of South American stalwarts like Cavani, Marcus Rojo, Ander Herrera and Luis Advincula and have obvious limitations but a combination of a new manager bounce and experienced players looking for one last shot at glory could see them progress here and they look too big against Benfica at the current prices.

Look out for Miguel Merentiel to score the goals as they will look to him in the likely absence of Edinson Cavani in the first game.

The absolute minnows of the competition, Auckland will simply be looking to keep things respectable in all three of their matches. The semi-professional team from New Zealand qualified for the finals by winning the OFC Champions League as they have done for the past 4 seasons in a row but this will be a completely different ball game.

They have scored 5 goals in 17 matches at the FIFA Club World Cup since they first played in 2006 but have never faced anyone near the quality of Benfica let alone Bayern Munich. The current handicap line in their first match against Bayern is -4.5 but if anything that looks too low and I think Bayern could inflict some serious damage.

They played Al Ain of the UAE in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup in 2024 and lost 6-2 after completely capitulating late on. The greater fitness of the bigger teams will tell in the humidity of Cincinnati and I would expect them to tire late on and they are massive odds on to finish bottom of the group.

Bayern should top the group comfortably but the gap between Boca and Benfica isn’t as big as the current match prices suggest and I’d be happy to side with Boca on that basis. Auckland will be thrilled to finish the group stage with their dignity intact and I’d be looking to side against them scoring any points or even goals here.

• Sunday, June 15 - Bayern Munich vs Auckland City (17:00 BST)
• Monday, June 16 - Boca Juniors vs Benfica (23:00 BST)
• Friday, June 20 - Benfica vs Auckland City (17:00 BST)
• Saturday, June 21 - Bayern Munich vs Boca Juniors (02:00 BST)
• Tuesday, June 24 - Auckland City vs Boca Juniors (20:00 BST)
• Tuesday, June 24 - Benfica vs Bayern Munich (20:00 BST)
  

Ladbrokes has an article looking at the group stage games to watch at the Club World Cup. As well as that, we've also posted an extensive Club World Cup schedule guide, for fans who don't miss out on a single minute of action in America.

As noted, there are a lot of questions surrounding this summer's tournaments, some fans still wondering why Liverpool aren't in the tournament but Chelsea are, for example.

So, Ladbrokes has an 'Answering all your questions on the Club World Cup 2025' piece for fans who still don't feel they know all they need to about the revamped FIFA competition.

View the latest Club World Cup odds.

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.