Club Leon disqualified from participating in the 2025 Club World Cup because its largest shareholder is the same person as the largest shareholder of another club in the same league, Pachuca

FIFA announced on its official website on Sunday that Liga MX club, Club Leon, was officially disqualified from the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup because its largest shareholder is the same person as the largest shareholder of another club in the league, Pachuca, which seriously violates the multi-club ownership and management model rules.

According to FIFA's official statement, the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has received letters from the largest shareholders of Club Leon and Pachuca, but found that the arguments they described and provided were of no serious reference value, so it insisted on maintaining the decision to disqualify Club Leon from participating in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

As for which club will eventually replace Club Leon to qualify for this tournament, it will be announced in due course in the near future.

Currently, the club most speculated on the Internet is Alajuelense, one of the most successful clubs in Costa Rica.

There are also many people who speculate that in order to increase ratings and sensationalism, FIFA may controversially allow Al-Nassr, where Cristiano Ronaldo plays for, will become one of the participating clubs.

However, many fans also speculated that Liverpool might be selected because they have made it to the last 16 of almost every UEFA Champions League in recent years.

It is worth mentioning that FIFA and UEFA have always had rules that do not allow the same person who are the largest shareholder of multiple clubs at the same time to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League to avoid conflicts of interest.

However, RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg, and even Red Bull Bragantino, Red Bull Omiya Ardiya, Leeds United and Paris FC, which may also become participating clubs in the future, have always been able to clearly list the different management teams of each club, so UEFA has never interfered with their eligibility to participate in European competitons.

As one of the most successful clubs in the Liga MX, Club León is not only the 8-time champions of the league, but also the champion of the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League.

Meanwhile, Pachuca is the 7-time Liga MX champions and the 6-time CONCACAF Champions League champions.

At the same time, they are the only Liga MX club in the history to have won the FIFA Club World Cup.