GENEVA (AP) — The last spot for the FIFA Club World Cup this summer in the United States could be decided in a tiebreaker match between Los Angeles FC and the popular América from Mexico, subject to the outcome of a legal case involving another Mexican team.
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The Mexican club León was expelled by FIFA this month for violating the tournament rules, as it has the same owner as another participating team, Pachuca, leaving a vacant spot in the 32-team competition.
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Why will the tiebreaker be between Los Angeles FC and América?
FIFA said it would consider a tiebreaker match between LAFC and América to fill that spot, but is awaiting the outcome of at least one legal case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport before confirming whether it will take place.
FIFA indicated that LAFC would participate in the playoff because they were the runner-up in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League, losing to León in the final. América is the next highest-ranked team in the regional confederation.
Controversial inclusion of América
It was not clear why FIFA decided to include América, when the tournament rules limit each country to two representatives unless they have more than two winners of a continental championship during the qualification period.
In the case of Mexico, it already has Monterrey and Pachuca installed in the tournament.
In the case of the United States, it has the Seattle Sounders and Inter Miami, a team that entered without sporting merit and only due to the popularity of Lionel Messi, with the host country’s spot.
“The winner of the tiebreaker would qualify unless legal procedures determine otherwise,” said FIFA in a statement.
Those legal procedures include the appeal that León is preparing before the TAS against FIFA’s expulsion order, as well as a separate case filed by the Costa Rican club Alajuelense, which believes it has the right to the spot instead.
The CAS announced on Monday that it will hold a hearing on April 23 in Madrid in the case brought by Alajuelense.
In the second expected case, the CAS said that they had not yet received a formal appeal from León.
This is a classification that automatically means an initial payment of 9.55 million dollars, distributed by FIFA, plus a share of the total 1 billion in prizes, depending on the results in the group stage and knockout rounds. The winner of the tournament is expected to earn up to 125 million.