León and Pachuca violate the rule of being part of the same sports conglomerate
For regulatory reasons, the list of participants in the 2025 Club World Cup will undergo changes. This is because, having initially qualified for the competition, León and Pachuca will not be able to participate together in the tournament which will take place in the United States.
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The point that prevents the two Mexican clubs from playing in the World Cup is bureaucratic in nature. Both belong to the same sports conglomerate, run by entrepreneur Jesús Martínez Patiño. The owner of Grupo Pachuca, in addition to the clubs mentioned, has a network with other entities in the country (Mineros de Zacatecas and Coyotes de Tlaxcala), but it is not limited to this. Patiño’s reach extends to South American football, as he also holds controlling shares in Talleres, Argentina, and Everton, Chile.
This week, FIFA has published the set of rules for the tournament which is expected to take place between June 15 and July 13 next year. And one of the points is precisely the ban on two clubs from the same sports conglomerate from participating in the tournament. Thus, the entity that governs world football made contact with the leaders of the Pachuca Group, asking for the choice of León or Pachuca to compete in the competition.
With this scenario, undeniably, an additional place will open for the participation of another team. However, there is no further information (either officially or behind the scenes) on how FIFA intends to fill this gap.
Remember the new format
The new Club World Cup will take place with 32 participants, modifying the previous format in which only the continental champions and the national champion of the host country qualified. Now the competition system is identical to that of the last editions of the World Cup: eight groups of four members each, single group match and the top two in each group qualify for the round of 16. From then on single matches until the decision to decide the champion. The difference is that there is no dispute for third place.
In addition to the choice between León and Pachuca, the only vacancy to be defined will be this year’s Libertadores title, defined on November 30, in Atlético-MG x Botafogo.
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Source: Terra
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