James Rodriguez says that the Leon club expulsion from the Club World Cup a “serious injustice” of Fifa
James Rodriguez described Fifa’s decision to exclude Liga MX Side Club Leon from the Club World Cup as a “serious injustice”.
Rodriguez made the comments in an improvised press conference on Friday, where he and teammate Andres Guardodo criticized Fifa for their decision.
Last week Fifa announced that Leon was not admissible Playing in the inaugural competition at 32 teams this summer after having failed to satisfy the FIFA multi-club ownership criteria.
Leon is owned by Grupo Pachuca, one of the most influential ownership groups in Mexico. Grupo Pachuca also controls CF Pachuca, another Liga MX side that qualified for the club’s world cup.
The FIFA appeal committee established last Friday that the clubs were not “failed to satisfy the criteria on the multi-club property defined as” the regulations for the Club World Cup. Leon qualified for the tournament by winning the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2023.
“I think it’s a serious injustice,” said Rodriguez. “We all believe it. We won the field. The club and players are injured. Thinking about this, if we were out, it is not right. The team that would replace us would be stained, football would be. So many fans have planned to travel to the tournament, how do you tell them that they cannot go?”
“I have many questions about all this,” continued Rodriguez. “It’s strange. I think Fifa has to bring together their things. Football is stained by this.”
Guardado, 38 years old, who is the most covered player of the national Mexico team, signed with Leon in 2024 after a long career in European football. It is among the most respected sports figures in Mexico. On Friday, he targeted Fifa’s decision, suggesting that the government’s government body and its president Gianni Infantino have managed the situation badly and deceived Leon. Guardado referred to Fifa’s decision as “a brutal injustice”.
“If someone made a mistake was Fifa, not Leon,” said Guardo to journalists on Friday. “Those who are wrong are Fifa, because the multi-club property and Grupo Pachuca have always existed. When (Grupo Pachuca) has acquired Leon? Many years ago. And so now Pachuca and Leon will participate in a tournament.
“So (FIFA) invents a rule after the fact that the team says that the teams cannot participate. So it is the FIFA that has messed up here. And moreover, they invited us to the draw, they created advertising for us and infantine welcomed us (at the competition)”.
The central defender of Leon Jaine Barreiro, 30 years old, joined Rodriguez, Guardia and the manager of Leon Eduardo Berizzo on Friday. He said that since he received news that Leon had been expelled from the Club World Cup, the team’s attention had been hit.
“It was difficult for us,” said Barreiro. “Personally it was very difficult for me. We won the right on the field and now Fifa wants to take it away. The best thing is that Leon is there to compete. We are anxious to see things work for us.” Guardado reiterated the same feeling. “I would lie if I said that the news did not hurt the team,” he said.
Beerizzo was more measured during the 30 -minute press conference at the club structure. He repeated several times that Fifa’s decision to remove Leon from the tournament was “hasty” and that Leon and his legal team still had time to correct the situation. He hoped that Leon would receive good news and once again was part of the Club World Cup field this summer in the United States
“We trust that the final resolution will allow us to play in the cup,” said Beerizzo. “We gained it on the field. It is dignified to defend that privilege. I think we are facing an exemplary situation from FIFA and TAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) should provide the club with the right to compete (in the tournament). We have not violated the competition and the competition did not start competition in the multimila (structure).”
“There is time to solve this and FIFA should investigate all 32 teams who will participate to make sure they are not affected in the same way,” he continued. “I think that removed from the club’s world cup was hurried, not only unjust, but hasty because you can find a solution.”
After Fifa’s sentence last week, experts in Mexico suggested that Rodriguez would leave Leon and potentially sign with another qualified club for the Club World Cup. Friday, Rodriguez crushed those voices.
“I’m here. I’m very happy here,” he said. “We cannot lose the concentration on what is happening to the club. I have a one year contract and I will honor it until the last day. Fans should not worry. I am very happy here if we play or not at the club world championships. This will not affect the fact that I want to be here or not.
Rodriguez described Leon’s exclusion from the tournament as a situation he had never met. He said that when he signed with Leon in January, the club officials told him that Leon would participate in the club world championships. It was a decisive factor in his decision to join the Mexican club. “This is new to me. This never happened to me,” said Rodriguez. “You are in a World Cup and then suddenly they tell you that you are out.”
“There is something behind this,” he added. “I don’t know what it is. If another team replaces us, football will be stained. Fifa has to really study this situation. It is a complicated situation. Fifa has to give answers here. Fans should remain calm and expect things to train. I can’t comment completely. I could say many things but I shouldn’t.”
When he was asked to elaborate, Rodriguez replied in no uncertain terms.
“In the world of football there are entities that govern very strongly,” he said. “You can see how football manage and why they are not positive (for football). We hope that FIFA will be on top of this and will do something about it. It is not right to select another team.”
(Leopoldo Smith/Getty Images)
