FIFA justified the expulsion of Club León from Mexico from the upcoming Club World Cup.

The FIFA Appeals Committee released an extensive 55-page document concluding that Club León and Pachuca do not meet the requirements set out in Article 10.1 of the 2025 Club World Cup Regulations. Consequently, "Club León has been officially excluded from the tournament, while the FIFA General Secretariat will assess whether Pachuca can be admitted".

The measure is based on a detailed analysis of the corporate functioning of both institutions, which are directly related to Grupo Pachuca. According to the regulations, "Article 10.1 expressly prohibits the same group or person from having influence over two participating clubs, to preserve competitive integrity and operational independence". For this reason, FIFA deemed the proposed solution during the process of temporarily transferring León's management to a trust insufficient.

The Committee also emphasized that, even if one of the clubs were sold today, the breach would have already occurred at the key moment of the process. In section 182 of the ruling, it is stated: "The sale of one of the clubs could have been a legitimate means to achieve compliance, but it would not change the fact that the regulations were breached on the critical date".

Both institutions took the conflict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which "on April 4 confirmed having received individual appeals from both clubs seeking to overturn FIFA's initial decision". However, the new resolution confirms the sanction against León, whose squad includes Argentine coach Eduardo Berizzo and Colombian footballer James Rodríguez, among others.

From now on, "FIFA must decide which club will take León's place in the tournament, which will be held in the United States from June 15 to July 13, 2025". Pachuca's situation is also under review and will be subject to further evaluation by the governing body.

América, Los Angeles FC, and Alajualense await their chance to play in the Club World Cup

With León's exit already confirmed, some teams are waiting to be the replacements, however, it is not an easy decision. The clubs leading in FIFA's consideration are América from Mexico and Los Angeles FC from the United States.

To fill the gap left by James's team, the entity presided over by Gianni Infantino is considering holding a match between these teams. The choice of these teams is due to the fact that the Aztec team is currently the highest-ranked in Concacaf and the American team was the finalist in the last edition of the Concachampions.

While América and Los Angeles FC would be the main options, there is a third team claiming its presence in the world event, Liga Deportiva Alajualense from Costa Rica. The Costa Rican club believes it should replace León for being the best positioned in the federation's ranking outside of Liga MX and MLS.