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| EPAYonhap News |
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| AFP Yonhap News |
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Clube Leon (Mexico), who was scheduled to play in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, was kicked out.
FIFA said on the 22nd (Korea time) that it will disqualify Club León from the Club World Cup, and that it plans to announce the replacement club later. Clubreon qualified for the Club World Cup as the winner of the 2023 North-China Champions League, and as a result of the draw, they were in Group D along with Chelsea (England), Tunis (Tunisia), and Flamengo (Brazil).
The decision was initiated by the objection of Deportiva Alahuelense (Costa Rica), the winner of the 2023 Central American Cup (North and Central American Champions League). Alahuelense has called on FIFA to qualify as an alternative, emphasizing that Clube Leon is a club based on the same 'Gruppo Pachuca' as Pachuca (Mexico), who played in the Club World Cup together.
In a statement, FIFA explained that "'The review by the disciplinary committee determined that Clube Leon did not meet Article 10, Paragraph 1 of the Club World Cup Regulations (the conditions related to joint ownership of the club)' and that Clube Leon is disqualified from participating in accordance with Article 10, Paragraph 4 of the Club World Cup Regulations.'"
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| EPAYonhap News |
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Clube Leon, of course, rose up with it. They raged, saying, `We have submitted evidence and documents over the past few months that the club is operating autonomously in all aspects, including finance, the squad and the management.'
The Club World Cup has been transformed into a total of 32 teams from this tournament. The total prize money alone amounts to $1 billion (about 1.4 trillion won), and it is a competition that can earn billions of won just by participating. In the K-League, Ulsan HD has qualified for the second place in the AFC ranking over the past four years, and will compete with Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Fluminensee (Brazil), and Mamelodi (South Africa) in Group F.
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| AFP Yonhap News |
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
