Months before Club -World Cup Starting, FIFA has made a controversial decision: Mexican team club León is out. Their shared ownership with Pachuca violates FIFA regulations that prohibit the multi-club ownership groups in their competitions. On March 21, FIFA released a statement that announced Club León would be removed from the tournament but did not nam a replacement.
While some Can find Philadelphia Union’s participation unlikely, the club is the fourth highest ranked club in Concacaf, according to FIFA. Union Beat reporter José Nuñez wrote about the opportunity for Carnell’s page to do the competition in November. The Union is ranked higher than both Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami, which is ranked 9th and 21st on FIFA’s list.
Club World Cup sites go first to continental champions from the past four years. The remaining places go to the highest ranked clubs in each confederation. Think of the following European clubs that did not win the Champions League but got a place in the competition because of this rule: Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, PSG etc.
By using FIFA’s own rules, The highest ranked team that has not already qualified for the Club World Cup would gain entry into the tournament. The highest ranked team in the Concacaf rankings that is not qualified for the tournament is Club América. Instead of giving the Mexican team a chance in the tournament, FIFA has decided to ignore its own rules for qualification.
A play-off between LAFC and Club América?
The custodian have reported that FIFA is considering one Play-off between two teams to determine the last participant in the competition. They also reported that “General Secretariat” decides who would replace a team that is disqualified from the Club World Cup. Usually, the team that qualifies in our region would do so by winning the Concacaf Champions Cup or by ranking as the highest team so as not to win the tournament. Thus, the second highest of ranking would be Club América in Mexico-Men FIFA has wanted to include another MLS team.
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No. Unfortunately for Philadelphia fans, it seems that the club has been overlooked by FIFA for another MLS team: LAFC. According to The custodianThe FIFA considers a play-off between LAFC and Club América To determine the last possible place in this summer’s Club World Cup. Although these are the laws reported, a case can be made for Philadelphia to take its place.
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“… FIFA said LAFC was selected for the playoffs because of its status as a runner to León in the Concacaf Champions Cup 2023. – Alexander Abnos, The Guardian
According to ESPN, no official decision will be made until The club León makes its final appeal to the Court for Sports Arbitration on April 23. For context, LAFC is ranked 10th on FIFA’s list of Concacaf clubs.
