Mamelodi Sundowns are about to face a steep challenge in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup draw on Thursday in Miami, with the risk of landing in a “Group of Death.”

As a participant from Pot 4, Sundowns could find themselves up against prestigious European clubs such as Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, or Paris Saint-Germain. Additionally, they may also compete with strong teams like Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, or Atlético Madrid from Pot 2.

In Pot 3, Sundowns might be drawn with CF Monterrey, Club León, CA Boca Juniors, or Botafogo. They won’t face Al Ahly and Wydad Casablanca due to their shared confederation (CAF).

The 32 qualified teams are organized into four pots according to their confederation rankings. Sundowns’ earlier participation in the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup, where they didn’t achieve much success, has placed them in Pot 4.

Manqoba Mngqithi’s team earned their spot in the tournament through CAF’s ranking system, unlike Al Ahly, who qualified as the current African champions.

FIFA announced in a statement on Tuesday:

The guiding principle of FIFA is to ensure that, where possible, no group contains more than one team from the same confederation. This rule does not apply to UEFA, which has 12 teams participating.

Each group must have at least one, but no more than two UEFA teams. Accordingly, four of the eight groups will include two UEFA representatives. 2. Teams from the same member association cannot be grouped together. 3. To maintain competitive balance, two separate pathways of four groups have been established.

Pathway 1 includes winners from groups A, C, E, and G matched with runners-up from groups B, D, F, and H. Pathway 2 comprises winners from groups B, D, F, and H matched with runners-up from groups A, C, E, and G. UEFA teams 1-2 and CONMEBOL teams 1-2 will be allocated to groups in different pathways and will only meet in the semi-finals if they both win their respective groups.

The same rule applies to UEFA teams 3-4 and CONMEBOL teams 3-4. 4. UEFA teams 1-4 will be distributed among groups to ensure they do not meet until the semi-finals, provided they all win their groups.

This guideline will also apply to CONMEBOL teams 1-4. 5. All teams from pot 1 will be directly assigned to position 1 in their corresponding groups. 6. Teams from pot 2 will be drawn as follows: UEFA teams 5-8 will be placed in groups with CONMEBOL teams 1-4, whereas UEFA teams 9-12 will be paired with UEFA teams 1-4. 7.

For logistical reasons and to accommodate the host country’s teams, Inter Miami CF will occupy position 4 in Group A, while Seattle Sounders FC will take position 4 in Group B when drawn from pot 4. 8. Thus, teams in Groups A or B will occupy positions based on their pot allocation.

As a result, the team from pot 2 will fill position 2, and the team from pot 3 will take position 3. This stipulation will only apply to Groups A and B.

The draw procedure is laid out as follows:

The four pots containing the teams are numbered from 1 to 4. Each pot has eight balls, each representing a qualified team. 2. The draw begins with selecting all teams from pot 1, following the established draw rules. Once all teams from Pot 1 have been allocated to their respective groups, the process will continue with the teams from pots 2, 3, and 4, completing each pot before proceeding. A ball will be drawn from each team pot, followed by a ball from the first available group pot to determine the team’s position within that group, ensuring all draw rules are followed. The position assignments within a group apply only to groups C to H, according to the earlier mentioned rules. 3. The draw will conclude once all teams from pot 4 have been selected.