FIFACWC: Sundowns to gauge if ‘we can dominate African continent’ – Cardoso

Cardoso - Photo Credit - Mamelodi Sundowns.

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has revealed their main desire at the group stages of the FIFA Club World Cup is to gauge whether they can dominate African continent in the future.

Sundowns will head into the 2025 tournament having been drawn in Group F alongside CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores champions Fluminense FC, German giants Borussia Dortmund and Korea Republic's Ulsan HD, who both secured their respective passages to the tournament via the ranking pathway.

They will kick off their campaign at Inter & Co Stadium on Wednesday, June 18, before taking on Borussia Dortmund at TQL Stadium in matchday two on Saturday, June 21.

Sundowns, who will be making a return to a FIFA competition for the first time in almost 10 years at the 2025 Club World Cup, will wind up their preliminary fixtures against Fluminense at Hard Rock Stadium on Wednesday, June 25th.

“That's exactly the question because, from what I feel, everybody's pretty proud on one side of being in that competition, but at the same time, with the responsibility of knowing that they want to perform,” said Cardoso as quoted by SABC Sports.

“The mindset in the club is very strong towards performance, achieving goals and winning trophies, and obviously we know where we stand, but we also know our ambitions and where we want to go.

“We understand the reality, but we're willing to make our best in every challenge we face, and that's also a test for us [to see] which level we're at, because we know in Africa we are one of the biggest teams.”

He continued: “But we also want to understand on which level we can be regarding different realities in the world, and obviously for myself, as a coach coming from Europe and having already worked in France's Ligue 1, Spain's La Liga, Greece, Ukraine, and Portugal, of course.

“So I have quite a [good] idea of the level of teams and players, but it's quite challenging to understand that teams will make a big difference, and we want to be very strong as a team.

“We know we have very important players, but we want to be very strong as a team when we arrive [back] in the Champions League.”

The newly crowned Betway Premiership champions in South Africa earned their place at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup via the CAF ranking pathway.