Chelsea learn two potential Club World Cup opponents ahead of playoff | OneFootball

Chelsea will face one of Los Angeles FC or Club America in this summer's inaugural edition of the expanded Club World Cup, with the two CONCACAF teams set to meet in a one-off playoff later this month.

Club Leon had originally been drawn in Group D which included Chelsea alongside Flamengo and ES Tunis. However, the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League winners were unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament in March after FIFA judged that Leon had breached multi-club rules.

Leon are part of the Grupo Pachuca, which also counts Pachuca under its umbrella. As 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup winners, Pachuca qualified for the Club World Cup which represented a potential conflict of interests if the two sides were to meet or influence each other's results.

Pachuca quickly disputed the decision, taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) only to have their appeal rebuffed on 6 May.

Costa Rican side Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) sparked the process which saw Leon eliminated by flagging the potential breach of ownership regulations back in February. Once FIFA accepted that the two teams "failed to meet the criteria in the regulations", LDA put forward their argument to fill that vacant spot based on their continental ranking.

CAS also rebuffed that approach this month without providing any immediate justification, instead insisting that FIFA was "responsible for designating the final qualified team to participate".

World football's governing body appear to have settled on Club America because they are the highest-ranked team from the same federation as Leon not already in the competition, while LAFC lost to the Mexican outfit in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final.

No date or venue has yet been set for the playoff between America and LAFC, although The Athletic have put forward 31 May as a viable option.

Chelsea are scheduled to face the winner of this playoff on 16 June in Atlanta to kickstart their group-stage campaign before fixtures against Brazilian side Flamengo and reigning Moroccan champions ES Tunis.

Beyond the mystery identity of their opening opponent, Enzo Maresca's preparations for the competition could be complicated by the absence of their England internationals. Thomas Tuchel is said to be unwilling to release any of his Three Lions squad members ahead of England's friendly against Senegal on 10 June, which could see the likes of Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill and Noni Madueke all miss out.