Corinthians secure place in FIFA’s first Copa das Campeãs

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Central do Timão

·18 October 2025

Corinthians secure place in FIFA’s first Copa das Campeãs

By Daniel Keppler / Central do Timão Editorial Team

America is black and white again! On the afternoon of Saturday, the 18th, Corinthians won the Women's Copa Libertadores for the sixth time after drawing 0-0 with Deportivo Cali-COL in regular time and winning the penalty shootout 5-3 at Estadio Florencio Sola in Banfield, Argentina. Moreover, for the first time in history, a team has won three consecutive editions of the continental tournament.

The 2025 trophy, however, has a special taste. After all, besides reaffirming the South American hegemony of the Brabas and earning the club an extra prize of US$ 2 million (about R$ 10.8 million) in the black and white coffers, the title secured the People's Team a spot in the first edition of the FIFA Champions Cup, the first world club tournament organized by the highest entity in football.

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Photo: Staff Images Woman/CONMEBOL

The creation of the competition was announced by FIFA in March 2025 after a meeting of its FIFA council, in a move considered historic for realizing the interest in forming a global platform for continental champions to compete against each other, thus aiming to elevate the competitive and professional standard of international women's football.

In total, the tournament features the current champions of all continental women's football tournaments: Arsenal-ENG (UEFA Champions League), Gotham-USA (CONCACAF Champions Cup), Corinthians (CONMEBOL Libertadores Cup), Wuhan Jiangda-CHN (AFC Champions League), and Auckland United-NZL (OFC Champions League), along with an African club that will win the CAF Champions League, which will be held in November.

Two preliminary matches of the tournament take place. The first was already held in China, between Wuhan Jiangda and Auckland United, won 1-0 by the home team, who thus qualified for the second preliminary match, which will be played at a location to be determined against the African champions in December.

Then, the winner of this duel will be eligible to participate in the final phase of the Champions Cup, which will take place between January 28 and February 1, 2026, in London, England. The team that qualifies from the match between Wuhan and the African champions will face Arsenal in one of the semifinals, while Corinthians and Gotham will compete in the other. The winners of these matches will decide the world title.

The FIFA Champions Cup will be held annually, except in years when the other FIFA club competition, the World Cup, takes place. This, which will feature 16 teams, will be inaugurated in 2028, at a venue yet to be determined. CONMEBOL has not yet disclosed the qualification criteria for this competition, in which the confederation will have three spots, two direct and one in the preliminary phase.