A week after losing in the Mexican league finals, fútbol giants Club América will face perennial MLS title contenders Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) with a berth in the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup at stake.
The winner of Saturday’s clash at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles will qualify for next month’s 32-team FIFA Club World Cup and receive a US $9.55 million payout, with the chance to earn US $125 million in the tournament.
💭 There’s a first time for everything…#FIFACWC 2025 is coming. 🔜
— FIFA Club World Cup (@FIFACWC) May 29, 2025
América will have to shake off Sunday’s disappointing 2-0 loss to Toluca, which deprived Las Águilas of a fourth consecutive Liga MX title. The Mexico City-based club boasts a league-record 16 championships.
For its part, LAFC — winners of three major trophies in seven years of existence — is off to a slow start this season. Despite an eight-game unbeaten streak (3W-0L-5D), the team sits sixth in the MLS’ Western Conference with a 6W-4L-5D record.
The play-in match was necessitated by FIFA’s disqualification of Mexican club León for violating the organization’s multi-team ownership restrictions.
FIFA regulations state that no single entity can control or exert influence over more than one club participating in the Club World Cup. The rule aims to prevent conflicts of interest and ensure fair competition.
Grupo Pachuca owns Club Pachuca and Club León, but since Pachuca qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, León — the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup winner — was deemed ineligible.
To fill the final spot designated for a Concacaf franchise, FIFA decided to stage a playoff game featuring a Liga MX team against an MLS club.
León, Pachuca and Costa Rican side Alajuelense challenged the decision, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected the appeals earlier this month, and FIFA confirmed the playoff match.
América was selected as the top club in FIFA’s Concacaf Club Rankings Index after the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup.
LAFC was granted this opportunity as the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup runners-up, losing 3-1 on aggregate to León during that two-legged final.
The match and what’s at stake
FIFA expects “an electric atmosphere befitting a match of incredible significance” at a sold-out BMO Stadium in downtown Los Angeles.
Longtime Águilas captain Henry Martín, Real Madrid academy product Álvaro Fidalgo and Team Mexico goalkeeper Luis Malagón are among the standouts in América’s star-studded lineup.
LAFC is led by winger Denis Bouanga, striker Olivier Giroud and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. The latter pair were teammates on the French national team that won the 2018 World Cup and members of the France team that finished runner-up to Lionel Messi’s Argentina at the 2022 World Cup.
In three previous meetings, LAFC has yet to lose to Las Águilas in regulation.
The first encounter came in the 2020 Concacaf Champions League semifinals, with the MLS team winning 3-1. Mexican star Carlos Vela scored twice for LAFC, though The Black and Gold would go on to lose the final to Liga MX club Tigres.
In February 2022, LAFC handed América a 2-1 loss in a friendly at BMO Stadium. In August 2022, América defeated LAFC in a penalty shootout after the two teams played to a scoreless draw in a Leagues Cup Showcase match.
If Saturday’s game is even after 90 minutes, the clubs will play two 15-minute periods of extra time. If the score remains level at the end of extra time, a penalty shoot-out will follow.
The winner of the high-stakes play-in match will earn the right to compete in Group D at the Club World Cup, alongside Brazil’s CR Flamengo, Espérance Sportive of Tunisia and English side Chelsea, which won the European Conference League by defeating Spain’s Real Betis on Wednesday.
If LAFC wins, it would become the third MLS team to play in the Club World Cup, joining Inter Miami (qualified for this year’s tournament) and Seattle Sounders (2022).
América has played in three Club World Cups, finishing fourth in 2006 and 2016, and finishing fifth in 2015. The tournament only featured six teams in 2006, and seven teams in 2015 and 2016.
With reports from The Football Week, MLS Soccer and FIFA
