Fifa has made the drastic decision to remove James Rodriguez’s Club Leon from it 2025 FIFA Club World CupJust three months before the start of the tournament. With a place now free, Speculation has arisen if Cristiano Ronaldos Al Nassr could go in to fill the void.
On Friday FIFA officially announced the club Leon’s exclusionWith reference to the team’s failure to meet the criteria with several clubs described in the organization’s regulations. The club Leon, part of Grupo Pachuca together with CF Pachuca, will not participate in the competition and leave a vacant place in the tournament.
With the vacancy now open, the question of which team will replace the club Leon has taken the center. A name that immediately appeared on social media was Al NassrLed by Cristiano Ronaldo. But could the Saudi club secure a place in the competition?
Can Al Nassr qualify for 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
While the host nation representative, From MiamiHave already secured their place in the tournament, some have speculated that FIFA can offer a place for another superstar team like Al Nassr. However, Chances of Ronaldo’s team participating in the World Cup 2025 is narrow.
First Al Nassr lost his ability to qualify for the tournament when eliminated in a penalty of Al Ain in AFC Champions League quarterfinals 2023-24. Al Ain, based in the United Arab Emirates, defeated Al NassR on March 11 and prevented them from moving on to the final and securing a place in the tournament.
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FIFA drastically makes a decision and kicks James Rodriguez’s Club Leon from 2025 Club World Cup
In February 2023, FIFA announced that the number of tickets to each confederation would be allocated, with AFC gets four places. All of these places have already been claimed, with Al Nass and finished fifth in the AFC rankingbehind Jeonbuk Motors (South Korea) and Kawasaki Frontale (Japan), both of which still haven’t qualified for the Club World Cup.
Who takes the place?
Since the club Leon’s exclusion came from Concacaf, It is likely that a team from the same confederation takes the open space. However, the criteria for choosing the replacement group are still unclear.
A possible challenger is Los Angeles FC (LAFC). The MLS page reached the final in 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup but lost to the club LeonThus, the automatic qualification misses the Club World Cup. This lack of credit -based qualification has made LAFC a less favorable alternative to fill the location.
A more logical choice can come from the Concacaf ranking. Monterrey and the club Leon occupy the two best places in the ranking, but with a team already in the competition and the other excluded leaves this room for teams as Club America, Philadelphia Union, or even Cruz Azul, ranked as third, fourth and fifth in Concacaf. However, FIFA’s criteria can complicate things for these teams.
As Fifa described: “A limit of two clubs per country will be applied to the access listWith one exception in cases where more than two clubs from the same country win the most important club competition in the Confederation during the four -year period. “
With Monterrey and CF Pachuca that already represent Mexico, and Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders representing the United States, This leaves Liga Mand MLS clubs with narrow chances to secure the replacement site. The most likely candidate to fill the vacancy can be League deportiva alajuelene, Costa Rica Club who began the claim against the club Leon to CAS. Alajuelene sits the 15th Concacaf ranking, making them a potential compensation.
