April 17 – Club Leon manager Eduardo Berizzo has blasted FIFA and its President Gianni Infantino over his side’s exclusion from the Club World Cup because of multiple-club ownership rules.
In March, Zurich ruled that Leon were not eligible to play in the inaugural 32-team competition after failing to meet FIFA’s multi-club ownership criteria, and Infantino has since offered up their spot in a playoff match between Club America and Los Angeles FC.
However the Mexican club has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, at a news conference, Berizzo had some choice words.
He said: “The FIFA President cannot comment on a supposed replacement without waiting for the ruling. I think his words carry significant weight and he shouldn’t have commented; he should have remained neutral until the CAS ruling.”
The Club World Cup’s competition regulations stated that clubs owned by the same legal entity cannot participate. FIFA ruled that Leon and Pachuca, another Mexican club participating in the competition, belonged to the same ownership group, but Berizzo has accused FIFA of lacking transparency, questioning the way the world federation has organised the Club World Cup.
He stated: “If the world were the way I wanted it to be, people like that wouldn’t lead organisations like this. FIFA must demonstrate that it is an organisation of integrity, and it isn’t. In the past, it hasn’t been.
“Not only with our elimination, but with all this, which involves a fix, a hidden interest to see which team goes, who doesn’t , why teams go, why others leave or why you get eliminated. As long as there’s no clarity or transparency about that, they’ll always remain suspects.
“We live in a football world, in organisations and institutions that, instead of representing transparency and setting an example for all citizens, increasingly make us suspicious and make us feel small in the face of what’s happening.
“In a football world where everyone should feel supported, a part of, and proud to be a part of, sometimes you feel like running away.”
The Leon manager also took aim at his national association, the Mexican Football Federation. Berizzo alleged: “You feel mistreated; you feel like part of a football system run by people who cater to underground interests that dictate decisions. It’s very striking that the Mexican Football Federation hasn’t said a word about this issue.”
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