As FIFA announced on Friday afternoon, the Mexican representative Club Leon will be excluded from the Club World Cup. The reason for this is that the criteria for owning several clubs in the competition have not been met. The Mexicans want to appeal the decision.
As FIFA announced on Friday, the Mexican representative Club Leon will be excluded from the Club World Cup. The reason for this is that the criteria for owning several football clubs have not been met. José de Jesus Martinez Patino, owner of Club Leon, also owns the Mexican club CF Pachuca, which is also qualified for the competition.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee had referred the case to the world governing body’s Appeals Committee. After evaluating the evidence, the chairman of the Appeals Committee concluded that the clubs would violate article 10, paragraph 1 of the regulations for the 2025 Club World Cup.
Replacement club to be announced later
The aforementioned paragraph lists criteria that owners of several clubs must fulfill in order to “ensure the integrity of the competition”. From the world governing body’s point of view, this is not the case with the two Mexican representatives, so only one of the two clubs can compete.
At the Club World Cup, Club Leon, led by former Munich player James Rodriguez, would have faced Chelsea, Flamengo Rio de Janeiro and Tunisian club ES Tunis in Group D. The Mexican club’s place will be taken by a substitute club, which will be announced at a later date, according to FIFA.
Club Leon will appeal the decision
However, even before the official announcement, Leon had announced that it would appeal against a possible exclusion. “In recent months, we have submitted all the tests and documents confirming that Club León is managed autonomously in all economic, administrative and sporting aspects,” the club said in a statement on Friday afternoon CET.
In the event that the club is stripped of its hard-earned place at the Club World Cup, it will “as a last resort go to the highest sports courts,” wrote Leon. So it is quite possible that the last word in this case has not yet been spoken.
