FIFA has made the drastic decision to remove James Rodriguez’s Club Leon from the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, just three months before the tournament’s start. With a spot now vacant, speculation has arisen about whether Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Al Nassr could step in to fill the void.
On Friday, FIFA officially announced Club Leon’s exclusion, citing the team’s failure to meet the multi-club ownership criteria outlined in the organization’s regulations. Club Leon, part of Grupo Pachuca alongside CF Pachuca, will not participate in the competition, leaving a vacant spot in the tournament.
With the vacancy now open, the question of which team will replace Club Leon has taken center stage. One name that immediately emerged on social media was Al Nassr, led by Cristiano Ronaldo. But could the Saudi club secure a spot in the competition?
Can Al Nassr qualify for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup?
While the host nation’s representative, Inter Miami, has already secured its spot in the tournament, some have speculated that FIFA might offer a place to another superstar team like Al Nassr. However, the chances of Ronaldo’s team participating in the 2025 Club World Cup are slim.
First, Al Nassr lost their opportunity to qualify for the tournament when they were eliminated in a penalty shootout by Al Ain in the 2023-24 AFC Champions League quarterfinals. Al Ain, based in the United Arab Emirates, defeated Al Nassr on March 11, preventing them from progressing to the final and securing a spot in the tournament.
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FIFA makes drastic decision and kicks James Rodriguez’s Club Leon out of the 2025 Club World Cup
In February 2023, FIFA announced that the number of tickets for each confederation would be allocated, with the AFC receiving four spots. All of these spots have already been claimed, with Al Nassr finishing fifth in the AFC ranking, behind Jeonbuk Motors (South Korea) and Kawasaki Frontale (Japan), both of which still have not qualified for the Club World Cup.
Who will take the spot?
Since Club Leon’s exclusion came from CONCACAF, it is likely that a team from the same confederation will take the open spot. However, the criteria for selecting the replacement team are still unclear.
One possible contender is Los Angeles FC (LAFC). The MLS side reached the final of the 2023 CONCACAF Champions Cup but lost to Club Leon, thus missing out on the automatic qualification to the Club World Cup. This lack of merit-based qualification has made LAFC a less favorable option to fill the spot.
A more logical choice could come from the CONCACAF rankings. Monterrey and Club Leon occupy the top two spots in the rankings, but with one team already in the competition and the other excluded, this leaves room for teams like Club America, Philadelphia Union, or even Cruz Azul, ranked third, fourth, and fifth in CONCACAF. However, FIFA’s criteria might complicate things for these teams.
As FIFA outlined: “A limit of two clubs per country will be applied to the access list, with an exception in cases where more than two clubs from the same country win the most important club competition of the confederation during the four-year period.”
With Monterrey and CF Pachuca already representing Mexico, and Inter Miami and Seattle Sounders representing the USA, this leaves Liga MX and MLS clubs with slim chances of securing the replacement spot. The most likely candidate to fill the vacancy could be Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, the Costa Rican club that initiated the claim against Club Leon to the CAS. Alajuelense sits 15th in the CONCACAF rankings, making them a potential replacement.
