Chelsea opponents Club León removed from FIFA Club World Cup

Yesterday at 11:08 PM

Conflict of interest

Liga MX title-contenders Club León have been kicked out of this summer's Club World Cup after they failed to pass FIFA's multi-club ownership test.

León and fellow qualifiers CF Pachuca are part of the same ownership group, Grupo Pachuca, so this isn't really a huge surprise. FIFA informed both teams that one of them would get removed earlier this week, and evidently it's León who've drawn the short straw. (As to why Liga MX allows owners to have multiple teams in their league — Pachuca aren't unique in that regard — well, that's another question.)

León qualified for the Club World Cup as the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners, while Pachuca would win the same competition last year. CF Monterrey (2021 winners) the Seattle Sounders (2022 winners), and Inter Miami ("host club"?) are the other representatives from CONCACAF. Presumably León's replacement will come from the same confederation: FIFA are set to announce "in due course" who that might be.

Chelsea were set to begin our Club World Cup campaign on June 16 in Atlanta with a Group D match against León, who currently count legendary veterans James Rodríguez and Andrés Guardado among their numbers. I'd assume the date and time of this fixture will not change, just the identity of our opponents.