LAFC and Club América will play their Club World Cup qualifying playoff match on May 31 at BMO Stadium, home of LAFC, for a place in the group stage of the 32-team tournament, FIFA confirmed on Friday.
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 playoff is being held to decide the 32nd team after Club León were kicked out of the tournament due to a multi-club ownership rule breach. The Liga MX club also had their appeal rejected at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
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.
Manolo Zubiria, FIFA's chief tournament officer, insisted that both teams will be given equal treatment, despite the game taking place at LAFC's home stadium.
"BMO ultimately presented itself as the best option given the short period of time that we have and we're happy to play there," he said on a media call Friday. "But I can guarantee you that also part of the discussion with the teams is that FIFA's running the match, FIFA's basically taking over the building, FIFA's running the match from the competitions, FIFA's running the match together with the day of game operations and security of BMO Stadium.
"And both teams have been given equal treatment in terms of inventory for tickets and we've done a great job of separating the two fan sites, but the same conditions were given to both teams."
While there promises to be a sizable number of América fans in attendance, LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington acknowledged that "it is obviously [an advantage] for us."
However, he added: "If you go back to our preseason match against América, it didn't quite feel like a home game in the normal sense for us, given the affinity and the fan base that they do have locally here in LA. So while obviously we are grateful that the decision has been made that it is in our stadium, we don't feel like it will necessarily feel exactly like a home game."
"It's a challenge for us," said América president of operations Hector Gonzalez Iñarritu. "We are currently taking [a] challenge every Sunday when we visit something here in Mexico or when we play in the Leagues Cup in the USA. It's the same.
"We have a lot of fans in California, a million fans in LA, and we hope that we have the support and impact [in the] stadium cheering for América."
The Club World Cup entry for LAFC or América 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.
FIFA said in March that Club León and Pachuca did not meet regulations on multi-club ownership. However, Pachuca's spot in the June 14-July 13 tournament was unaffected.
LAFC were runners-up to Club León in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League while Club América were the top-ranked team in the Club World Cup confederation ranking at the end of the Champions Cup staged in 2024.
LAFC (6-4-3) is currently riding an unbeaten streak of six games. Its last loss was a little more than a month ago (April 9) in the Concacaf Champions Cup when Inter Miami beat LAFC, 3-1.
Information from ESPN's Jeff Carlisle, Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this report.