Chelsea opponent 

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Two months before the start of the FIFA Club World Cup, Mexican side  Club Léon have been excluded from the field of starters. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected an appeal by Léon against FIFA’s decision to exclude the club from the tournament. The club of Colombian star James Rodríguez are excluded after failing to meet FIFA’s criteria on multi-club ownership. The tournament is set to take place in the United States from June 14 to July 13.

The majority owner of Léon is Grupo Pachuca, which also controls Liga MX side and Club World Cup participant Pachuca. As a result, FIFA stated that the club “failed to meet the criteria on multi-club ownership.” Those regulations further state that “no individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in the competition.”

Leon earned their spot in the competition after winning the Concacaf Champions League in 2023. The Mexican club beat Major League Soccer side LAFC 3-1 on aggregate. The Liga MX side are drawn in Group D where they were supposed to meet Chelsea to open the tournament on June 16 in Atlanta. It is now up in the air who will replace Léon. But one candidate is Costa Rican side LD Alajuelense. According to the BBC, the Costa Ricans had filed a legal complaint with CAS arguing that they should receive the extra spot in the tournament. 

FIFA Club World Cup: Alajuelense to replace Léon?

“The lawsuit demonstrates the existence of a multi-ownership between the Leon and Pachuca clubs, as well as the fact that no team has a greater right than ours to participate in the next Club World Cup,” a statement Alajuelense in February stated. As the highest, Alajuelense is the best-ranked team in Central America for the Concacaf region and, as such, argues that they should be included instead. The CAS has, however, rejected Alajuelense’s bid to take the spot from Léon. Instead, Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC and Liga MX’s side Club América will determine the final starter of the Club World Cup in a one-off playoff to be held at LAFC’s BMO Stadium in LA. 

León initially reacted with their own statement pushing back against being banned from the competition. The club said it had demonstrated that they are completely independent from Pachuca. The club tried to fight the decision but the CAS’s ruling is considered final. Multi-club ownership is quite common in Mexico. In Mexico, besides Léon and Pachuca, there are another two companies that own two or more clubs in Liga MX. Grupo Caliente owns Tijuana and Querétaro, while Grupo Orlegi controls Atlas and Santos Laguna. TV Azteca owns Mazatlan and has partial ownership of Puebla.