Chelsea are yet to learn who their first opponents will be at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup this summer after Club Leon's appeal to be reinstated was rejected. The revamped tournament starts in America in just over five weeks.
In March it was confirmed that Mexican outfit Club Leon had been kicked out of after being found to have breached multi-club ownership rules. A statement at the time explained: "Following disciplinary proceedings opened against CF Pachuca and Club Leon, the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to refer the case directly to the FIFA Appeal Committee in accordance with article 56 paragraph 3 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
"After having evaluated all evidence on file, the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee has decided that CF Pachuca and Club Leon failed to meet the criteria on multi-club ownership defined under article 10 paragraph 1 of the Regulations for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™.
"In line with article 10 paragraph 4 of the Regulations for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, FIFA has determined that Club Leon will be removed from the competition, with the club to be admitted as a replacement to be announced in due course." The decision was sent to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
A ruling by CAS, published on Tuesday, has rejected the approach. "All appeals were consolidated into a single CAS case which was heard at CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 5 May 2025," a media release says.
"The President of the CAS Panel for this case was Prof. Roberto Moreno (Paraguay), with Prof. Massimo Coccia (Italy) and Dr. Daniel Cravo Souza (Brazil) as co-arbitrators. 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 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.
"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.
"The President of the CAS Panel for this case was Prof. Roberto Moreno (Paraguay), with Mr David Arias (Spain) and Mr Juan Pablo Arriagada (Chile) as co-arbitrators. As a result of the CAS ruling, FIFA is responsible for designating the final qualified team to participate in the Club World Cup 2025."
Last month, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced that MLS team LAFC (who own Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris) would play Club America of Mexico in a playoff to determine who enters the group phase. "What we're looking at is that, if the CAS upholds the Appeals Committee's decision, FIFA's intention is to play a playoff match between the team that lost the CONCACAF Champions League final, LAFC, and the next-place team in the rankings, which is America," he said.
The winner will face Chelsea in the opening group match of Group D. The other teams in Chelsea's group are ES Tunis and Flamengo.
Just qualifying for the tournament will guarantee clubs between £9.92million and £29.58million. The winners will take home around £97million.
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Chelsea ended the 2023/24 Premier League season on a high, but it is never quiet at Stamford Bridge and the summer looks set to be one full of news, with question marks over Mauricio Pochettino's future at the club and plenty of talk around transfers.
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