'We're not aware of it' - Santiago Baños, América's sporting president, says the possibility of taking León's place in the Club World Cup is 'all speculation'

In recent weeks, following Club León’s expulsion from the Club World Cup for violating the tournament’s multi-ownership regulations, América has been one of the teams rumored to take the Esmeraldas’ place - a team that includes former Real Madrid player James Rodríguez.

It has been suggested that América could be considered due to being the highest-ranked Liga MX team in CONCACAF. FIFA has also said it is considering a playoff match between América and LAFC for the vacant spot, and even Costa Rica’s Alajuelense, like León, have taken the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to fight for the spot.

Santiago Baños, América’s sporting president, denied any knowledge about whether the team will be considered by FIFA to compete for that spot:

“We haven’t received nor do we have any information on the matter," he said. "Regarding the ranking, just a week ago there was talk about a possible match between América and LAFC. We’ve stayed on the sidelines - even before FIFA’s announcement, everyone was already naming América as a candidate, but we’re not involved at all. This is an issue between León, FIFA, and CAS. We’re just focused on our work. We're not aware of it, nor do we give it any importance because it’s all speculation. We don’t know anything about it.

“FIFA has made its position clear - it sanctioned a team that violated the multi-ownership rule. FIFA has taken a clear stance. Now it’s up to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to issue its opinion, and then we’ll see what happens. Right now, we can’t afford to be thinking about the Club World Cup or CAS when we have an important league match, followed by another big game in Monterrey. If something happens, I’ll sit down and we can hold this press conference again. But today, it’s all speculation - and on top of that, there are many different versions out there.”

La Fiera will have a hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) during the week of May 5 to determine whether they can regain their spot. However, in recent days, FIFA - through its appeals committee - upheld its decision to exclude the team coached by Eduardo Berizzo.

Baños refused to comment Friday on the speculation surrounding América potentially taking León’s place in the Club World Cup, but he did firmly state that multi-club ownership in Mexican football is a problem.

“What’s wrong is wrong, there’s no way around it," he said. "Multi-ownership is not right and it should be eradicated from Mexican football. City Group has investment funds with teams in different leagues. As far as I know, Mexico is the only place where the same group owns multiple teams, and that’s not OK.

"My company used to have it and was the first to get rid of multi-ownership because it knew it wasn’t right, and I still believe it isn’t. Hopefully, we can follow FIFA’s example in Mexico and eliminate it as soon as possible for the good of Mexican football. It creates a bad image because people all over the world talk about multi-ownership in Mexico, and it doesn’t reflect well on us. As an industry, we must do something to end it as quickly as possible.”

Las Águilas will be looking for revenge against Cruz Azul Saturday when they host them on Matchday 15 of the Clausura 2025. La Máquina recently eliminated the Azulcrema side in the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup.