LAFC will play Club America in a one-off playoff to determine the final place in this summer’s Club World Cup.
The winners of the playoff, which is expected to take place on May 31 but for which FIFA are yet to confirm details, will take the place of Club Leon in Group D for the newly-expanded tournament.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said earlier on Tuesday it had rejected the appeals filed by Mexican teams Club Leon, Pachuca and from Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) relating to the Club World Cup.
CAS judged that Leon and Pachuca did not meet the competition’s regulations concerning multi-club ownership, with both clubs majority-owned by Grupo Pachuca. That decision led to Leon’s expulsion from the tournament, while a separate appeal by LDA to fill that void was also rejected by CAS.
FIFA confirmed on March 21 that Leon had been removed from the competition after Grupo Pachuca “failed to meet the criteria on multi-club ownership”, which the group subsequently unsuccessfully appealed.
FIFA said later in March it was considering hosting a play-off game between Club America and LAFC to replace Leon, with the former being the highest-ranked Concacaf team not already at the tournament and the latter having lost to Leon in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League final.
As the winner of that final, Leon were due to participate at the Club World Cup as one of four Concacaf qualifiers alongside fellow Mexican sides Monterrey (winners of the 2021 Champions League) and Pachuca (winners of the 2024 Champions League) and American side Seattle Sounders (winners of the 2023 Champions League). Inter Miami qualified in the extra spot awarded a team from the host nation as the winners of the 2024 MLS Supporters’ Shield.
Costa Rican side LDA were ranked below Club America of Mexico in the Concacaf rankings, but they were the highest-ranked team outside of Mexico. FIFA’s guidelines for the Club World Cup state that each nation should not have more than two representatives at the competition unless they are the winners of the confederation’s annual tournament, such as the Champions League.
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Whoever replaces Leon in Group D at the Club World Cup will face English side Chelsea, ES Tunis of Tunisia and Brazilian club Flamengo. If LAFC qualifies, it would see French striker Olivier Giroud come up against his former club Chelsea, where he won the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League during a four-year spell.
The Club World Cup begins on June 14, with the final to be held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 13.
(THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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