Club World Cup Team Betting Predictions: Mamelodi Sundowns

Four African outfits are heading to the United States of America to play in this summer’s Club World Cup and the South African champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, are the only representatives from their nation. 

They’ve been placed in an intriguing group and there’s an outside chance they could cause a shock this summer. Below you can find my Mamelodi Sundowns Fifa Club World Cup 2025 predictions. 

Group F: Mamelodi Sundowns, Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD 

Fixtures: Ulsan HD vs Mamelodi Sundowns (June 17, 23:00 BST), Mamelodi Sundowns vs Borussia Dortmund (June 21, 17:00 BST), Mamelodi Sundowns vs Fluminense (June 25, 20:00 BST). 

Unless you take a keen interest in African football, you may not have heard of Mamelodi Sundowns before, but they’ve been fairly consistent on the continent to book their place in this Club World Cup. They recently lost in the CAF Champions League final to Pyramids, but they have reached a minimum of the quarter-finals in each of the last four seasons, taking them into this Club World Cup.

They’ve also now won the last five consecutive South African Premierships and are clearly the dominant force domestically, so it will be intriguing to see how they fare up against some of the biggest teams in the world. 

Club World Cup 2025 Odds

Sundowns actually beat fellow Club World Cup qualifiers Al Ahly over two legs in the semi-final of this year’s CAF Champions League but the perspective on the two teams seems to be slightly different. Egyptian champions Al Ahly are 150/1 to win the Club World Cup whereas Sundowns are 500/1 to go all the way, which makes me think that they have been slightly underrated by the bookmakers.

The second leg of that Champions League final was their only defeat in their final 11 games of the campaign, and they only just came up short in that 2-1 defeat to Pyramids in Cairo. The strange qualification nature of the CWC means that the defeated finalists are taking part, but the 2025 winners themselves will not be present.

Portuguese manager Miguel Cardoso has only been in the job since December but is a popular figure, having won 20 of his 29 fixtures in charge. He was sacked by Tunis earlier in the campaign and Sundowns have been the beneficiaries of that decision, with clubs such as Rio Ave, Celta Vigo, AEK Athens and Nantes on his CV. Sure, the latter three were all disastrously short spells earlier in his career, but he clearly has some level of pedigree as he looks to rebuild in South Africa.

Player to watch: Lucas Ribeiro

The player to keep an eye on for Mamelodi Sundowns is Lucas Ribeiro, a Brazillian that carries the goalscoring threat in this side. He plays on either wing and has registed an impressive 16 goals and nine assists in 26 league matches this campaign. 

Three more goals followed in the run to the CAF Champions League final and it feels as though he is the man that could cause the opposition issues in the group stage. Clearly it’s a big step up however, Lucas Ribeiro does have some experience playing in Europe - for Belgian second tier outfit S.K Beveren. He’s the one to watch for Sundowns at the Club World Cup. 

Football Odds

*FIFA Club World Cup (15/06 – 13/07): Bet £10 or more on a team to win the 2025 Club World Cup and receive £2 in Free Bets for each game your team wins in 90 minutes to use on Football Bet Builders.

Mamelodi Sundowns to qualify from Group F @ 5/1 

Do I think Sundowns will get out of the group? Probably not. Are they still decent value to do so given the teams they are up against? Yes. It’s going to be three tough games for the South African champions, but things could have been a lot worse for them in terms of the draw. Borussia Dortmund should win three out of three so we can discount the German giants, but the race for second place does seem to be a lot more even. 

Fluminense currently sit fifth in Brazil’s Serie A and only finished 13th last term, so they may not be as strong as most expect the Brazilian outfit to be, while Ulsan HD are third in the K League and arguably the team that Sundowns could beat. The fact that they meet in the opener gives me hope they could cause a shock, and if they get the win in that first match, anything is possible. 

There’s a situation where a draw could be enough for them on the final day against Fluminense, and it’s a scenario I’d like to see. A long-shot, but not completely out of the question thanks to a favourable draw. 

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