LAFC to host Club America in playoff for final Club World Cup place
MIAMI (AP) — Los Angeles FC will host Mexico's America on May 31 in a Club World Cup qualification playoff.
The winner will get group-stage games against Chelsea in Atlanta on June 16, then Esperance from Tunisia in Nashville, and Flamengo of Brazil in Orlando.
The play-in game is needed to complete the 32-team lineup of the tournament that starts on June 14 because another Mexican club, Leon, was removed. Leon broke tournament integrity rules being in the same ownership group as another Club World Cup entry, Pachuca.
FIFA finalized the date and venue on Friday, 10 days after Leon's appeal against expulsion was lost at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
LAFC's 22,000-seat home BMO Stadium — next to the LA Memorial Coliseum and shared with Angel City — will stage the game at 7:30 p.m. local time.
That is several hours after the Champions League final in Munich between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. Both have qualified for the Club World Cup.
The Club World Cup entry for LAFC or America is worth an initial $9.55 million payment from FIFA for a CONCACAF region team, plus a share of the $1 billion in total prize money based on results at the month-long tournament. It is being played in 11 U.S. cities.
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