While most European football fans are eagerly anticipating Saturday's Champions League final between PSG and Inter, another big football game will take place on Saturday, May 31st, at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles: a "play-in" between Los Angeles FC and Club América. A club with barely seven years of history (LA FC's inaugural season was 2018, and they won MLS' supporters shield in 2019) versus one of the founders of the Mexican league 108 years ago.
And why are they clashing? Because one of them will join Club World Cup next month. They will replace Club León, which was disqualified in March, as it was owned by Grupo Pachuca, which also owns Pachuca, a team that also takes place in the competition. FIFA is against multi-ownership, and in this case, owning two participating clubs could generate conflict of interests. Despite their protests, FIFA disqualified Club León, which had qualified for the competition with sporting merits (León won CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2023 - Pachuca won in 2024).
To find a replacement, FIFA chose Club América, the top-ranked team in the FIFA Club World Cup confederation ranking at the conclusion of the CONCACAF Champions Cup staged in 2024; and LAFC, runners-up in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League, losing to León.
The winner will join Group D, placed against the recently Conference League champions Chelsea, alongside Flamengo and Espérance Sportive de Tunis. The match will take place at 19:30 PM local time in Los Angeles on May 31st (that would be 4:00 AM on June 1 in CEST, 3:00 AM in British Summer Time), so on Sunday we will tell you who's facing Chelsea on June 16.