Chelsea will not be confronted with Club Leon on the club World Cup this summer after the Mexican side was kicked out of the competition by FIFA.
When the trek for the tournament was made in December, Chelsea and Leon landed in group D, next to Flamengo van Brazil and Tunisian outfit Esperance de Tunis.
However, Leon has now been removed from the competition due to a violation of the FIFA's regulations around Multi-Club ownership.
Both Leon and Liga MX Rivals CF Pachuca are owned by Grupo Pachuca, and although both had initially qualified for the extensive 32-team tournament, their participation was challenged on the basis of the fact that they share ownership.
The challenge was applied by Costa Rican side Alajuelense, who argued that the participation of both clubs in the hands of Grupo Pachuca violated the rules of FIFA. Pursuant to Article 10.1 of the regulations of the World Cup club, no participating club may immediately or indirectly hold or handle the effects or shares of another participant.
FIFA confirmed the result of that challenge in a statement on Thursday.
The statement was: 'After the disciplinary procedures 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 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
'After he had all evaluated the file of all evidence, the chairman of the FIFA Appeal Committee decided that CF Pachuca and Club Leon did not meet the criteria on multi-club ownership that was defined on the basis of Article 10 of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 ™ rules.
“In accordance with Article 10 of the regulations for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 ™, FIFA has established that Club León will be removed from the competition, whereby the club is admitted as a replacement announced in due course.”
Leon responded to the statement with a highly formulated statement of their own statement and expressed 'disagreement' with the decision of FIFA and promised to investigate legal action.
“Club Leon expresses his disagreement with the FIFA decision, which could exclude us from the next Club World Cup,” said the statement. 'In recent months we have presented every evidence and documents that confirm that Club Leon works autonomously in all economic, administrative and sporting aspects.
“If Club Leon is prevented from participating in the World Cup 2025 Club with the same rights with which it has earned a place on the field, we will pursue the matter as well as possible in the highest sports courts.”
FIFA has not yet mentioned the team that Leon's place takes place, with an announcement that is expected in due course.
In the meantime, Pachuca's participation at the World Cup 2025 Club remains in place. They will be confronted with Real Madrid, Al-Hilal and Red Bull Salzburg in Group H.
Pachuca qualified by winning the 2024 edition of the Concacaf Champions Cup, after Leon won the same tournament in 2023.
Chelsea – who won the Club World Cup in February 2022 when it was an event of seven teams – qualified for their last victory of the Champions League over Man City in the 2020-21 season.
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