A verdict is expected Tuesday in Club Leon’s legal battle with FIFA over its exclusion from next month’s Club World Cup in the United States.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is hearing Leon’s appeal Monday as the club challenges FIFA’s decision to expel it due to shared ownership with fellow Mexican side Pachuca, which also qualified for the 32-team tournament kicking off June 14.
CAS said it aims to issue a fast-track ruling Tuesday from its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
If the court sides with FIFA, soccer’s governing body plans to stage a one-off playoff between Los Angeles FC and Club América to fill Leon’s place.
FIFA rules for the Club World Cup prohibit multiple teams with the same ownership from participating, to protect the tournament’s integrity.
Leon and Pachuca qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the 2023 and 2024 editions, respectively, of the North American continental championship, known as the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Both clubs, owned by Grupo Pachuca, were placed in different four-team groups at the tournament draw hosted by FIFA in Miami in December, despite the multi-club ownership issue being unresolved.
Leon was drawn to play Chelsea in Atlanta on June 16, followed by matches against Tunisia’s Espérance in Nashville and Brazil’s Flamengo in Orlando.
FIFA judges excluded Leon in a ruling in March, deciding the clubs’ ownership structure “clearly indicates centralized decision-making under a single authority, which is inconsistent with FIFA’s principles of competitive integrity and operational independence.”
The disputed tournament entry is worth an initial $9.55 million payment from FIFA, plus a share of the $1 billion in total prize money depending on results in the group stage and knockout rounds.
The Club World Cup lineup includes teams that won a continental championship over a four-season period from 2020 to 2024 or had a high ranking based on consistent results in those competitions. FIFA also invited Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami to represent the host nation.
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