CONCACAF president supports León after FIFA expels Liga MX side from the 2025 Club World Cup

In the wake of FIFA expelling Club León from the 2025 Club World Cup due to violating the multi-ownership rule, CONCACAF president Víctor Montagliani expressed his support for the Liga MX team, saying, "For me, as the president of CONCACAF, I support León because they won the Champions League on the field. We hope that, in the end, they will be in the Club World Cup."

The confederation president emphasized that the appeal process must be respected, telling TUDN, “It is a legal process. Grupo Pachuca has the possibility of going to the CAS. I don’t know what will happen, but we will respect the legal process.”

Club León was excluded from the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup due to a violation of FIFA's rules related to multi-ownership. Grupo Pachuca, which also owns Club León, has stakes in several teams, which goes against FIFA's regulations that prohibit one entity from controlling more than one club competing in the same international tournament.

León's exclusion has sparked controversy, as the team had qualified for the Club World Cup after winning the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup, a title that guaranteed them a spot in the competition. FIFA, upon detecting the multi-ownership violation, decided to exclude them from the tournament.

The Costa Rican team is one of the candidates to take León’s place in the competition. Los Manudos filed a complaint with FIFA against León and Pachuca last year and, in February, submitted a claim to the CAS to be included in the Club World Cup set to take place this summer.

The statements made by the president of CONCACAF were not well received by the Costa Rican team.

"The club strongly condemns the public statements made by Mr. Victor Montagliani," the Costa Rican club said in a statement, saying the confederation executive "explicitly expressed his support for Club León - an institution currently excluded by FIFA due to the violation of integrity rules related to multi-ownership - and expressed his desire for the club to be reinstated in the tournament."

James Rodríguez arrived at Club León for the 2025 Clausura after having played for Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Everton, Al Rayyan, Rayo Vallecano, among other teams. In eleven matches with the Esmeraldas, the Colombian has scored two goals and provided five assists.

León is in second place in the standings with 26 points, and next weekend, they will host Pumas in Matchday 13 of the Clausura.