For Chelsea, the victory in the World Cup decision maker on Sunday completed a good first season under Enzo Maresca, and eventually also brought down the curtain on a marathon campaign that they have to hope for not catching up.
The 3-0 win inspired by Cole Palmer over Paris Saint-Germain in the Metlife Stadium outside New York was Chelsea's 64th game of a season that lasted 11 months.
To what extent it was one of the best campaigns of Chelsea ever, with their club World Cup Triumph – placed on a par by Maresca to win the Champions League – after the victory in the UEFA Conference League and a fourth placed finish in the Premier League.
Maresca, an ex-assistant from Pep Guardiola in Manchester City, could not have asked much more after arriving from the leading Leicester City to promote.
“It has been a fantastic season, but I am especially happy for the players,” said the Italian, who has succeeded in putting together a coherent team from the endless line of new signing sessions that are brought in by the owners of the club.
“We have often said that talent alone is not enough. You have to find a way for them to fit together.”
It all represents considerable progress from just two years ago, when the Stamford Bridge side ended in the lower half of the Premier League.
Maresca took more new faces during the club World Cup, where Joao Pedro made a remarkable impact – the Brazilian attacker has demolished a vacation to complete a transfer of £ 60 million ($ 79 million) from Brighton and Hove Albion and scored twice in the Semi -Final and once in the final.
Liam Delap, Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr and Andrey Santos all met in the United States before the month, while Jamie Gittens has since arrived from Borussia Dortmund and colleague wing player Estevao Willian now joins Palmeiras in Brazil.
Chelsea will hope that those signing sessions, added to a team led by Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, can make a real push for the Premier League title outside the back of their impressive triumph on the new FIFA tournament.
“It's a big explanation,” said Captain Reece James the English media shortly after the trophy canceled next to the American President Donald Trump.
“I am happy with how much the club has been advanced and how you know the following season that we will compete in the Premier League, to win and compete the title, and also go far in the Champions League.”
Drastically reduced outside season
Chelsea has also placed a stunning $ 115 million in prize money from the club World Cup, but what if there is a point in 2025/26 when their exploits of this season catch up?
While Chelsea participated in the Club World Cup in draining the weather conditions, Premier League champions Liverpool and Runner-up Arsenal enjoyed extensive breaks out of season.
Manchester City was also at Club's World Cup, but they went out more than a week earlier.
The trade union of the global players FIFPRO is the leading voices that express concern about the demands on the biggest stars of the game in an ever -increasing calendar.
One of the guarantees that it proposed in a study published before the tournament was a mandatory four weeks outside the season, along with four weeks of retraining periods before they returned to the competition.
The low season of Chelsea is drastically reduced, with their first match of the next Premier League campaign against Crystal Palace planned for 17 August, exactly five weeks after the final of the World Cup Club. They have a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen on August 8.
“Tomorrow I have Holiay for three weeks, that's all I want now because I didn't stop in 15 months,” said Maresca on Sunday.
It is still to be seen whether Maresca and his players will come back enough before they attack a season in which they hope to go far into the Champions League and that will end with the World Cup in North America.
PSG is confronted with an even tighter pinch after a historical campaign for the Luis Enrique team, covered by their triumph in the final of the Champions League.
Their first competitive match of next season will be the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham Hotspur in Italy on 13 August, exactly one month after their defeat in New York – a chance to win more silverware, but at what costs?