Red card for Mexican team adds to Club World Cup’s teething troubles

Financial Times - 28/03
Complaints over inclusion criteria, prize money and player welfare hit Fifa’s expanded ‘pinnacle of club football’

With under three months to go until Fifa’s revamped Club World Cup kicks off in Miami, the $2bn project is facing a fresh dispute over which teams will be allowed to compete.

Fifa, football’s global governing body, said at the end of last week that Mexican side Club León had been removed from the contest because of rules preventing two teams with the same owner competing against each other. León is owned by the same group as CF Pachuca, another Mexican team that also qualified.

The expulsion is the latest snag in the build-up to what Fifa president Gianni Infantino has billed “the pinnacle of global club football”.

Due to be held in June and July, the Club World Cup is Fifa’s attempt to reduce its financial reliance on the men’s World Cup. The month-long tournament, an updat...
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