There is officially a path to a third MLS team that qualifies for the FIFA 2025 club World Cup this summer, with the IT director of sport announcing Tuesday that the LAFC will face the American club in an eliminatory match to determine who replaces the León club in the world tournament.
If the LAFC wins, they would join the Seattle Sounders FC (winner of the CONCACAF Champions Cup) and Inter Miami CF (National Host) when the 32 team tournament takes place from June 14 to July 13 in the United States.
The date of America, the place, the kick -off, ticket sales and information on ticket sales and broadcasting will be communicated on a later date.
Why this game?
The León club qualified in 2023 winners of the Concacaf Champions Cup, but the FIFA rules indicate that the clubs that participate in the World Cup of this summer cannot share the owners.
Grupo Pachuca has both the León club and its compatriot Liga MX CF CF PACHUCA, which qualified in 2024 winners of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and will remain in the tournament.
This decision was brought before the Arbitration Court for Sport (case), which confirmed the position of FIFA after calls from FC Pachuca, Club León and the Costa Rican team Alajuelense.
Why Lafc & Club America?
The LAFC was selected as a finalist of the CONCACAF 2023 Champions Cup, after losing the final of this year against the León club (3-1 aggregates).
Meanwhile, the American club was chosen as the best -classified team in the FIFA club World Cup classification at the end of the 2024 edition of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
What awaits the winner?
During the club World Cup, the winner of the American Lafc-Club qualifiers will replace the León club in group D alongside Chelsea (England), Flamengo (Brazil) and ES Tunis (Tunisia).
The group D of the León Club group was planned as follows, the first two games respectively organized at home for Atlanta United and Nashville SC:
- Monday June 16 against Chelsea | Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)
- Friday June 20 against ES Tunis | Geodis Park (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Tuesday June 24 against Flamengo | World Stadium campsite (Orlando, Florida)
Contenters of the MLS Cup sustainable at the Western Conference, Lafc is led by striker Denis Bouanga. The international of Gabon won two consecutive MLS Best XIs (2023, 2000) while scoring 20 championship goals during the consecutive years. He also won the MLS 2023 gold boot presented by Audi.
Additional stars include the legends of the French national team Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris, as well as the growing Venezuelan winger David Martínez and the center of Aaron Long.
Lafc is coach by Steve Cherundolo, who will leave the club at the end of the season to return to Germany. CHERINDOLO led the club to a double MLS CUP-SUPPORTER shield in 2022, plus the title of the US OPEN CUP 2024.
The American club is one of the first teams in Mexico, having won a record of seven titles of the Concacaf Champions Cup and 16 Liga MX titles.
Directed by manager André Jardine, the star players include goalkeeper Luis Malagón, midfielder Álvaro Fidalgo, winger Alejandro Zendejas and striker Víctor Dávila. Zendejas is a former FC Dallas Homegrown which represents the American national male team.
Last year, the winners of the Cup camps against the Columbus crew, Las Águilas, finished second in the recently designed Liga MX classification. They will play Pachuca in the next Liguilla qualifiers.
The widened 32-team World Cup will be held this summer through the United States from June 14 to July 13.
The teams are trained in eight groups of four teams per group, playing in a round format in a single match. The two best teams per group reach the round of 16, starting a direct elimination step to a single correspondence to the final.
Concacaf teams earn $ 9.55 million guaranteed for participating in the club World Cup, then up to $ 87.625 million if they won the three stage matches and ended up raising the title in the July 13 final at the Metlife Stadium – which led to $ 97.175 million.
Seven MLS stadiums are among the 12 selected sites to host games.
