FIFA has excluded Mexican club Club Leon from participating in the 2025 Club World Cup, scheduled to be held next June in the United States.
According to FIFA, the exclusion is due to a violation of dual ownership rules. The club’s owner is the same owner as Pachuca, which also participates in the Club World Cup.
León was therefore excluded from the competition (based on seeding), having been drawn in the same group as Chelsea, Flamengo, and Espérance Sportive de Tunis.
León was originally scheduled to participate in the 2025 Club World Cup as a recent CONCACAF Champions League winner, but it was decided to replace it with another club whose identity has yet to be revealed.
Recent reports indicate that Mexico’s Club America is the likely candidate to replace Leon in the upcoming World Cup, which is expected to have a prize pool of over $1 billion.
However, other reports from Spanish newspapers suggested that the alternative would be a European club through a golden invitation, specifically one of Barcelona or Liverpool.
It’s worth noting that CONCACAF has four World Cup spots, three of which have gone to Monterrey of Mexico, Seattle Sounders of the United States, and Pachuca of Mexico, with the final spot still to be decided.
