Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer were the stars of the show as Chelsea defeated Paris Saint-Germain to win the revamped 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Afrosport reports.
The Blues were slight underdogs going into the tournament owing to the supremacy of PSG who had only conceded one goal prior to the final and were fresh off a 4-0 thumping of Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
It was however Chelsea that started the brighter side in East Rutherford, and were in front after 22 minutes when Palmer rolled in a lot shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The former Manchester City man was at it again eight minutes later as he unleashed another unstoppable shot after latching on to a precise pas from Levi Colwill.
Palmer then turned provider in the 43rd minute for Joao Pedro as the new signing chipped the ball over Donnarumma for his third goal in just his second game having scored twice on his debut against his former club Fluminense in the semi-finals.
Chelsea held on to their lead in the second half while PSG were reduced to 10 men after Portugal midfielder Joao Neves was shown a straight red card in the 85th minute for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair.
It was the third red card PSG received in the competition after Lucas Hernandez and William Pacho were sent off in the quarter-final win over Bayern Munich in Atlanta.
CHELSEA ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/6COiL2SJdA
— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) July 13, 2025
The defeat denied Luis Enrique’s side the chance of winning a quintiple of titles after lifting the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, Coupe de France and UEFA Champions League, while for Chelsea, it was a second title for head coach Enzo Maresca in his first season after winning the UEFA Conference League.
For the individual awards at the tournament, Palmer received the Best Player award while PSG’s Desire Doue was the Best Young Player recipient, Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez the Best Goalkeeper and Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Garcia was top scorer with four goals.
