Tuesday's game at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey is the Londoners’ 38th major semi-final since 2000 and our third encounter with a Brazilian team in this year’s tournament.

• Tickets are available for our Club World Cup semi-final from FIFA here

The Blues lost to Fluminense’s compatriots Flamengo in the group stage, but beat Palmeiras 2-1 in the quarter-finals.

With Cole Palmer leading the charge, Chelsea’s pace, skill and intensity found passing lanes and space to expose the Brazilians with clever movement. That resulted in a 2-1 win, however Tuesday’s adversaries boast the second tightest defence in the competition.

So far unbeaten, the Tricolor (a nickname derived from their maroon, white and green shirts) reached the last four by edging past Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal. Renato Gaucho’s team stood sixth in Brazil’s Serie A – two places below Palmeiras – when it paused mid-season for this tournament.

The Blues have now relocated from Miami to New York for the duration, as the semi-finals and final will be staged across the Hudson River at the MetLife Stadium.

The history

Fluminense is the collective noun for the people of the state of Rio de Janeiro, where the club of that name was founded by an Englishman in 1902.

During a remarkable tour of South America 27 years later, on 28 and 30 June, Chelsea played two fixtures at Flu’s home ground (until 2003) Estadio das Laranjeiros (the Orange Trees), against a Rio Select XI, each featuring five of the hosts' own stars.

With the famous Cristo Redentor monument emerging on the Rio skyline and the stadium lit up as if for a garden party, it was a fairlytale setting, as Willie Jackson opened the scoring for the tourists on the brink of half-time.

At the tail end of a gruelling three-month schedule, though, the Londoners could not hold out. Fluminense’s Jose Ripper levelled with just over 10 minutes to go and the game was drawn. The hosts, though, had the better of a three-goal rematch two days later.

Know this...

This Club World Cup semi-final brings together the teams with most short corners to their name at this tournament. Chelsea lead the way on 23, one of which provided the winner against Palmeiras, with Fluminense taking eight.

A Chelsea side with 11 players has never lost a competitive game to Brazilian opponents. Our two defeats, to Corinthians in 2012 and Flamengo in this year’s group stage, came after a player was sent off. In fact, with a full complement of players, the Londoners are undefeated in 14 matches against all comers across all competitions, stretching back to April.

Fluminense have kept six clean sheets while racking up 11 matches without loss across all competitions, eight of them wins.

The Tricolor lost 4-0 to Manchester City in the 2023 final of this competition, which they have never won.

The winners of this competition will be entitled to wear a ‘Champions of the World’ shirt badge for the next four years.

Chelsea are joint-third leading goalscorers in this competition with 12, the same as Paris Saint-Germain, with Manchester City and Bayern Munich leading the way on 16.

With his wonderful opener against Palmeiras, Palmer became the 13th player to score for Chelsea in the Club World Cup (excluding own-goals).

Chelsea all-time scorers at the Club World Cup

Pedro Neto - 3
Romelu Lukaku - 2
Tosin Adarabioyo - 1
Liam Delap - 1
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 1
Enzo Fernandez - 1
Tyrique George - 1
Kai Havertz - 1
Reece James - 1
Juan Mata - 1
Christopher Nkunku - 1
Cole Palmer - 1
Fernando Torres - 1
Own goals - 2

In late 1800s Rio de Janeiro, an earlier football club founded by Oscar Cox (prior to him launching Fluminense) used to play against Paysandu Cricket Club, created by his father George Cox, at cricket, football, bowls and tennis, in a series known as O Classico dos Ingleses - the English Derby.

Chelsea previously won in New Jersey on 30 May 1954, during a post-season tour of North America. It was in a friendly against an American All-Stars side at the since-demolished F E Rodgers Stadium, where Jim Lewis and Les Stubbs scored the Blues’ goals.

2025 FIFA Club World Cup regulations

Should our semi-final tie be level when normal playing time expires, two 15-minute periods of extra time will be played, followed, if required, by a penalty shootout.

As usual five substitutions are allowed per match (as well as a sixth in extra time), plus concussion replacements.

Goal-line technology, VAR, a new advanced semi-automated offside system alerting assistant referees to raise their flag immediately for clear offsides and referee bodycams are used in this competition.

Players who accumulated a second caution in the quarter-finals must serve a one-match suspension and miss the semis. That is the fate of Chelsea’s Liam Delap and Levi Colwill, as well as Fluminense players Juan Freytes and Martinelli. The slate was wiped clean of single yellow cards after the quarter-finals.

The winner of this game and the other semi-final between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain will compete in the Club World Cup final, which will take place at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday 13 July 2025, an 8pm kick-off UK time. There is no third-place play-off match.

Tickets are available to see our Club World Cup semi-final against Fluminense in New Jersey and can be purchased from FIFA here. You can also watch the game live anywhere in world via DAZN by signing up for free here.