(Adds playoff confirmation by FIFA)
May 6 (Reuters) – Mexico’s Club Leon will not participate in this year’s Club World Cup after losing their appeal on Tuesday having been removed from the tournament by FIFA due to an ownership rule breach.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeal by Leon who had qualified by winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2023.
FIFA said in March that Club Leon and another Mexican club in the tournament, Pachuca, did not meet regulations on multi-club ownership. Pachuca’s spot in the competition was unaffected.
“This is the greatest damage done to a team that has always competed with humility and honesty,” Leon said in a statement.
“The only thing left for us is to win again to regain the place on the field that was taken from us. Have no doubt, as long as no one prevents us from doing so again, we will do it.”
The expanded 32-team Club World Cup runs from June 14 to July 13 in the United States with $1 billion in prize money at stake.
Apart from the winners of each confederation’s premier club competition, teams also qualified due to their ranking based on their performances over a four-year period.
FIFA confirmed later on Tuesday that Los Angeles FC and Club America would contest a playoff match to decide who would replace Leon in Group D at the tournament.
Los Angeles were runners-up to Leon in the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup, while Mexico’s record winners America were the top-ranked team in the Club World Cup confederation ranking at the conclusion of the 2024 edition of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
“Further details in relation to the play-off match, including information on the date, venue, kick-off time and ticket sales, will be communicated in due course,” FIFA added in a statement. (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Janina Nuno Rios;, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis)
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