Club Leon is facing FIFA in the Court of Arbitration for Sport over their participation in the Club World Cup. The emerald team had made a strong investment that can be seen mainly in signings like James Rodríguez, former Real Madrid player, in the search to reach the world championship in the best way. The CAS was holding León's appeal on Monday, which seeks to revoke the expulsion by FIFA because the club belongs to the same ownership group as Pachuca, another Mexican team that qualified for the 32-team tournament that starts on June 14 after winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2023. FIFA's rules for the Club World Cup, to protect the integrity of the tournament, prohibit more than one team from having the same owners. León and Pachuca qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the 2023 and 2024 editions of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, respectively. The emerald team was placed in a group to debut against Chelsea in Atlanta on June 16. They will also face Esperance de Tunis in Nashville and Flamengo from Brazil in Orlando, giving potential and very attractive matches. The disputed spot is worth an initial prize of $9.55 million from FIFA, plus a portion of the total $1,000 million purse, depending on the results in the group stage and the elimination phase. The Club World Cup includes teams that won a continental championship during a four-year period between 2020 and 2024 or that had a high ranking due to consistent results in those competitions. Although it is worth noting that FIFA also invited Inter Miami, a team with Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and coached by Javier Mascherano, to represent the host nation, despite not having delivered the best sporting results. The world football governing body, FIFA, is preparing to replace León in the tournament in case they fail in their favor; they are already preparing a single playoff match between Los Angeles FC and Club América from Mexico, if the CAS rules in their favor.