The World Association of Football Leagues and Fifpro have called on FIFA to review the calendar for the new Club World Cup in 2025. They are threatening to initiate legal proceedings.
In a letter addressed on May 2 to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, a copy of which AFP obtained on Thursday, the Leagues and Fifpro (the global players’ union) maintain that the calendar of football competitions is now ‘at- beyond saturation’. The future Club World Cup, contested by 32 teams, is currently scheduled from June 15 to July 13, 2025.
These calendar changes have created ‘economic damage’ to the national leagues and pushed players ‘beyond their limits’. They call on the FIFA Council to reschedule the Club World Cup and reopen discussions on the international calendar for the period up to 2030.
‘If FIFA refuses to formally commit to resolving the above issues at its next Council, we will be forced to advise our members on the options available to them, both individually and collectively, to protect their interests proactively’, say the opponents.
‘These options include legal action against FIFA, for which we have sought the advice of an external expert,’ they write.
In harmony
In a statement, FIFA argued that ‘the dates of the Club World Cup have been set so that they are in harmony with the international calendar, in order to allow sufficient time between the final of the tournament and the start of the season in many national championships’.
In addition, ‘a minimum of three days of rest between matches should be guaranteed in order to preserve the well-being of the players’, continues the international federation.
But the Leagues and Fifpro accuse FIFA of ‘continually making unilateral decisions that benefit its own competitions and commercial interests, while negatively affecting national leagues and players’. They add: ‘Over a long period, FIFA has ignored repeated attempts by leagues and unions to engage on this issue.’
/ATS
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