FIFA Club World Cup: all four Brazilian clubs reach knockouts and they will be guaranteed to make the quarterfinals

One clear and unexpected force has risen as the group stage of the club World Cup ends: Brazil.

Flamengo, Palmeiras, Botafogo and Fluminense – all Copa Libertadores winners in recent years – found to the second round. All offered heavy competition to the powerful European clubs, and they all excited tens of millions of fans at home.

There is renewed hope for Brazilian fans after years of defeats against European teams in FIFA competitions.

Flamengo and Palmeiras were at the top of their group-flamengo surprised Chelsea 3-1 to be the first team that qualified for the knockout rounds. Botafogo, who shocked the Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain, and Fluminense qualified in second place.

«Our first goal was the round of 16, but that is not the final goal,» said Fluminense midfielder Jhon Arias on Wednesday after a 0-0 draw with Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa.

All four clubs from Brazil have similar expectations for the knockout phase.

Botafogo and Palmeiras will be confronted on Saturday, a competition that guarantees at least one Brazilian club in the quarterfinals. Flamengo records Bayern Munich on Sunday and Fluminense will be confronted with Inter Milan on Monday.

Corinthians was the last Brazilian club that won the World Club title and defeated Chelsea in 2012. That tournament format was much smaller than the current 32 team competition with clubs from five continents.

New optimism

Copa Libertadores champion Botafogo produced the largest group stage that was upset with the 19 June victory over PSG.

Before that meeting, Brazilian fans and football pundits expected that the French club would have the Carioca side bulldoze, who had ups and downs this year.

«Botafogo was the team that defended the best against us in the entire season,» said PSG coach Luis Enrique. «They deserved it.»

Two factors have helped Brazilian clubs: they are halfway through their season, unlike the European clubs that ended, and they are familiar with the kind of heat that the tournament has covered.

Yet Brazilian coaches, managers, players and fans did not show much optimism before the tournament started. That has also changed, as Flamengo fans in Philadelphia have demonstrated by singing «The Time Is Coming» for Bayern Munich after the German club was confirmed as their next opponent.

«The cemetery of football is full of favorites,» said Botafogo coach Renato Paiva after the victory over the European champion.

«Almost nobody can be openly confronted with PSG. Could I try? I could, but that was a big risk in such a competition.»

The late 1-0 of Atletico Madrid about Botafogo was the only defeat for a Brazilian club in the group phase.

South American power

Brazilian teams are so competitive in South America that they have won the last six editions of the Copa Libertadores, including five All-Brazilian finals. Their regional superiority can also be seen in this club World Cup as their two Argentinian rivals in the tournament, Boca Juniors and River Plate, failed to get into the group phase.

Much of that success for Brazilians comes from talent from the rest of South America, as it happened in the club World Cup.

The Brazilian competition attracts young football players from the entire region before they go somewhere else for money and more prestige. But some choose to stay and grow in a heavy competition outside of Europe, with a maximum of six serious contenders for the trophy each year.

Flamengo playmaker Giorgián de Arrascaeta is Uruguayan. The most important player of Botafogo is Jefferson Savarino van Venezuela. Fluminen very depots on arias. Palmeiras trusts that there will be more goals from Flaco López from Argentina. And none of Tose has ever played in Europe.

«Many good things in the entire history that happen in football come from South America,» said the coach of Manchester City Pep Guardiola on Sunday. «The biggest players come from there.»

Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said prior to Thursday’s game against RB Salzburg that European teams will benefit from «seeing the competitive level from outside».

«Adjustment is important, but we can see teams that we don’t have to have day to day and they are very good,» said Alonso, who called the Brazilian teams and river plate among those who attracted his interest.

«Before the start, we said it would be in a way with the Europeans, and now we have opened our eyes.»

Brazil has also brought in various Portuguese coaches, with success. Paiva took over Botafogo from his fellow countryman Arthur Jorge. And Abel Ferreira has won almost every title with Palmeiras since he came to the club in 2020. Brazilian clubs has also made that more competitive.

«I am very proud to be in Brazil. I had many opportunities to leave and I didn’t do that,» Ferreira said at the start of the tournament.

When asked how big the gap is between his team and European clubs, Ferreira said: «It’s minimal. We have to compete.»

The knockout phase of the Club World Cup will learn whether he is right.