Club World Cup Fantasy 2025: Benfica Best Picks, Predicted Line-up and Team Overview
Club World Fantasy 2025 is here! Continuing with our team previews, we take a look at the Benfica best picks, predicted line-up and team overview.
Knowing how a team could line-up and their best assets could be absolutely key for success in Club World Cup Fantasy. Helping us today is fan @RFigueira9, who has provided us with his insight.
Team Overview
Benfica qualified for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup thanks to their strong performances in the UEFA Champions League over the last few years. Although they didn’t win the competition, they earned enough points through UEFA’s four-year ranking system (covering 2021 to 2024) to claim one of the 12 European spots in the tournament.
Their deep runs in recent seasons – especially reaching the quarter-finals in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 editions – played a big role in securing their place. Those consistent showings helped them stand out as one of the top-performing European clubs not already qualified through a Champions League title.
Benfica had a solid season overall – finishing 16th in the Champions League league Phase (on the same points as eventual winners PSG), but eventually being knocked out by Barcelona in the round of 16, and finishing second in their domestic league (just two points off champions Sporting).
Their form has been solid overall – winning six, drawing three and losing just one of their previous 10 matches in all competitions. Benfica will be hoping to redeem their latest form for fans going into the Club World Cup.
Group and Fixtures
Benfica meet with FC Bayern München (GER), Auckland City FC (NZL) and CA Boca Juniors (ARG) in Group C.
Their upcoming schedule looks like this:
- Matchday 1 – Boca Junior
- Matchday 2 – Auckland City
- Matchday 3 – Bayern
Benfica are favourites heading into their opening clash against Boca Juniors. They are also very strong favourites against Auckland City.
However, they go into the final round as heavy underdogs. They will need a strong performance against Bayern to have any hope of a positive result.
Predicted line-up
You can check out our Club World Cup Fantasy Ultimate Guide to help prepare you for the upcoming competition.
Top Picks
With two good fixtures to kick off their campaign, Benfica could well have clean sheet potential. The cheapest route into the backline (barring an injured Alexander Bah) is centre-back António Silva (€4.7m). He also has 1% ownership, so could pick up an additional two points if successful.
Another option is Samuel Dahl (€4.8m) who should start if Álvaro Carreras’ move to Real Madrid is confirmed. Dahl has impressed recently from an offensive perspective – registering three assists in his previous three starts alone.
Although more expensive centre-back Nicolás Otamendi (€5.2m) should also be a consideration. The Benfica veteran appears to have great goal threat, and he proved that by scoring three goals in his final eight matches of the 2024/25 campaign.
Fixtures against Boca Juniors and Auckland City will almost certainly offer potential for the Benfica frontline. The best of the bunch is striker and penalty taker Vangelis Pavlidis (€7.8m). Pavlidis was excellent in the season gone. The Greek international didn’t just rack up a huge 19 goals and seven assists in the league, he also netted seven in just 12 Champions League outings.
Midfielder Kerem Aktürkoglu (€7.2m) should also be a consideration. Although less prolific as Pavlidis , he still managed 11 goals and nine assists in the league last season. He also produced four goals in the Champions League.
There we have it, our Benfica Best Picks, Predicted Line-up and Team Overview. Will you be picking any of their players?
