

FIFA has confirmed that Los Angeles FC and Club America will compete in a one-off play-in game on May 31 to determine the final team at this summer’s Club World Cup.
The match will take place at LAFC’s home, BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California with kick off at 7.30pm local time. The match will be streamed globally for free by DAZN, the tournament’s broadcast rights holder.
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The Athletic reported earlier this month that the game would take place, with the winner of the playoff taking the place of Club Leon in Group D for the newly-expanded tournament that begins on June 14.
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”. Grupo Pachuca also owns fellow Mexican side CF Pachuca, which is also taking part in the Club World Cup.
Later in March, FIFA said it was considering hosting a playoff 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.
Earlier this month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeals filed by Leon, Pachuca and from Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense relating to the Club World Cup, following FIFA’s decision.
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 Alajuelense to fill that void was also rejected by CAS. Alajuelense’s argument for a place at the tournament was that it is the highest-ranked Concacaf team outside of Mexico and the United States not already competing. 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 UEFA Champions League or the Concacaf Champions Cup — Mexico has Pachuca and Monterrey while the U.S. has Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders.
Whoever replaces Leon in Group D at the Club World Cup will face English side Chelsea, ES Tunis of Tunisia and Brazilian club Flamengo.
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.
(Photo: Peter Casey-Imagn Images)
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