Mexican club León’s appeal to play in 2025 FIFA Club World Cup rejected by CAS

The Court of Arbitration for Sport turned down Mexican club León’s appeal to FIFA regarding its entry into the FIFA Club World Cup this summer.

Despite meeting the requirements to qualify for the 32-team tournament, FIFA expelled León from the FIFA Club World Cup lineup in March, as they and another Liga MX club, Pachuca, are both owned by Grupo Pachuca. FIFA rules prohibit clubs with the same owners from competing in the Club World Cup.

On Tuesday morning, the CAS released a statement rejecting León’s plea to be reconsidered for the competition, which will start on June 14 in the United States.

“The CAS Panel has issued an Operative Decision dismissing the three appeals and ruled that Pachuca and Club León failed to meet the criteria in the Regulations for the FIFA World Cup Club 2025 (Art. 10.1) concerning multiple club ownership,” the release read.

“The Panel examined the evidence, including the Club León trust set up by the owners of the club, and concluded that this trust was insufficient to comply with the Regulations. Consequently, Club León remains excluded from the competition and Pachuca remains qualified. A full CAS Award with reasons for the Decision will be issued in due course.

“A separate appeal by LDA against Club León, Pachuca and FIFA, filed on 3 February 2025, requested that Club León and Pachuca’s participation in the Club World Cup was contrary to FIFA regulations and that one of the clubs, or both, should be removed,” CAS added. “The appeal also requested that LDA should be admitted to the competition in place of a removed team. This case was heard by CAS in person in Madrid on 23 April 2025 and was also rejected today, with reasons to follow later in the full award.”

León and Pachuca both qualified by winning the 2023 and 2024 Concacaf championships, respectively.

Both clubs were placed in different four-team groups during December’s draw in Miami despite the glaring ownership issue. León was drawn to play Premier League giants Chelsea in Atlanta, Esperance from Tunisia in Nashville and Brazilian club Flamengo in Orlando.

During a March ruling, FIFA judges stated that 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.”

FIFA is expected to replace León with a playoff game between MLS side LAFC and Liga MX’s América.

The Club World Cup will conclude at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 13 and precedes the FIFA World Cup, which will also host its final in the same stadium in 2026.

The tournament will feature teams that won a continental title from 2020-2024 and have consistently won in that period. FIFA also granted Lionel Messi and Inter Miami entry to represent the host country.