'We all won it, together we defend it' - Club León protests its expulsion from the Club World Cup before Liga MX match

Club León protested on the field Sunday after their expulsion from the 2025 Club World Cup. La Fiera came out with a banner reading "We all won it, together we defend it" before the match in which they lost 2-1 at home to Pumas, marking their third consecutive defeat in the Clausura 2025.

The saga continues. León isn't giving up and will go to the last instance to determine whether they will participate in the Club World Cup this summer. On the other hand, the team coached by Eduardo Berizzo is not living their best moment, as they went from being leaders just weeks ago to dropping to third place.

Has the magic run out for James Rodríguez, or has the recent media spotlight affected the team?

Club León has filed a formal protest with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to overturn their expulsion from the 2025 Club World Cup. The hearing with CAS is scheduled for April 23, where the club will seek to defend their right to participate in the tournament, arguing that they earned their spot on the field.

Meanwhile, the team is going through a tough moment in Liga MX, with a three-game losing streak that has left them in third place in the standings with 26 points.

Club León was expelled from the 2025 Club World Cup due to FIFA's multi-ownership rule. According to tournament regulations, two teams owned by the same group cannot participate in the same edition of the competition.

In this case, León and Pachuca are both owned by Grupo Pachuca, and both qualified for the new Club World Cup format.

"It seems to me that the FMF should provide much more support to the qualified team, which is us, and not think about any replacement. I would like to hear the Federation defend us as the CONCACAF president did, and it's curious that it hasn't happened," Club León's coach Eduardo Berizzo said after the match against Universidad Nacional.

Meanwhile, André Jardine, coach of América, shared his thoughts on León and the possibility of the Águilas playing a match against LAFC to qualify for the Club World Cup.

"My position is this, I think León deserves all the credit," he said. "I'm sad for León. I followed that closely, I remember well, Dávila is here because he impressed me in that tournament. I would like a solution to be found, and if León doesn't go, we'll see.

"América is going through a time with many things going well, we haven't won the Concachampions yet, but we lead most of the Mexican tournaments, the CONCACAF ranking, which is one of the criteria, we still haven't achieved that. The responsible bodies, the ones who will make the decision, I would really like to go to the World Cup by conquering it on the field, and that's what we're doing."

While the issue of their expulsion from the Club World Cup is being resolved, La Fiera will look to end their three-match losing streak in Liga MX next Friday when they face Querétaro in the 14th round of the Clausura 2025.

Los Gallos Blancos are in 14th place and are in desperate need of points to move closer to the play-in spots, making them a dangerous opponent for a team that has fallen into a temporary slump.