Club World Cup 2025: FIFA’s ownership rule forces club sale

Club World Cup 2025: FIFA’s ownership rule forces club sale

FIFA’s Club World Cup regulations forces Mexican club Leon to put the club up for sale.

Mexican club Leon is set to be put up for sale to comply with FIFA’s Club World Cup regulations that prohibit multi-club ownership.

Alajuelense of Costa Rica complained to football’s governing body that two Mexican teams owned by Martínez qualified to participate in the upcoming tournament in USA, and requested it be included instead of one of them.

FIFA Club World Cup 2025, which is set to will be held in the U.S. from June 15 to July 13, using 12 stadiums in 11 different cities in United States.

Mexican clubs Leon and Pachuca, which are both owned by Grupo Pachuca, qualified for the 32-team tournament.

The decision was announced Thursday by the owner of Grupo Pachuca, Jesus Martínez, who hopes that FIFA will take the pending sale into account and let both teams participate in the tournament.

FIFA announced last month that it will not allow multiple teams belonging to the same ownership to participate in the upcoming tournament.

Martínez said he’s spoken to FIFA and plans to meet with the president of CONCACAF, Victor Montagliani, to explain how the two teams operate.

“They are listening. We have been transparent and we are optimistic that we can move forward with this situation,” Martínez said after the draw held on Thursday in Miami. “They told us that after the draw they will make a decision, in mid-December or early January”.

“We have in our favor that we did not have the regulation before, because it came out a month ago,” Martínez said. “That is being analyzed, but on their part I see a great openness, the most important thing is to respect what was won on the field.”

(With inputs from AP)