The new Club World Cup launched by FIFA has not finished getting people talking. As a reminder, this new-look competition will bring together from June 15 to July 13, 2025 no less than 32 clubs in the United States. Among the teams entered, twelve will come from the Old Continent including Paris Saint-Germain, the only French representative entered. A very lucrative tournament since participants will be guaranteed to hit the jackpot, namely a sum of between €25 million and €70 million.
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However, at a time when players’ schedules are already overloaded, the appearance of this new competition inevitably raises eyebrows. Scheduled two weeks after the final of the 2025 Champions League, this Club World Cup has everything of a tournament based solely on marketing since the Times explains to us that the current version of the Club World Cup (which brings together 7 teams) will be retained and still scheduled for December. The only change will be its new name: the Intercontinental Cup.
To read
Bayer Leverkusen – AS Roma: the official line-ups
The Leagues rebel
Except that FIFA’s latest addition could cause an XXL scandal. The Times we learn in fact that the international players’ union, FIFpro, and World League (the association which brings together all the world leagues) are threatening FIFA with legal action if this competition is maintained! To explain this posture, the parties mention a new calendar “beyond saturation”, “economic damage” for the national leagues and a “significant risk of injury” for players. Clearly, the FIFpro and World League are demanding a rescheduling of the tournament and discussions on the calendar of international matches.
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“If FIFA refuses to formally commit to resolving the issues. At its next council, we will be compelled to advise our members on the options available to them, both individually and collectively, to proactively safeguard their interests. These options include legal action against FIFA, for which we have sought the advice of an external expert. (…) FIFA has continually made unilateral decisions that benefit its own competitions and commercial interests, while negatively affecting domestic leagues and players. Over a long period of time, FIFA has ignored repeated attempts by leagues and unions to engage on this issue. Due to FIFA’s recent strategy of expanding its own competitions, the calendar is now saturated, to the point where national leagues are unable to properly organize their competitions, resulting in economic harm, while players are pushed beyond their limits, with significant risks of injury and impacts on their well-being and fundamental rights. If FIFA expands its own competitions, it is incumbent upon it to adapt accordingly. Placing the burden of adaptation on national leagues and players is inherently abusive”, we can read in the letter sent by FIFA and obtained by the English media. To be continued.
Pub. THE 05/09/2024 7:00 p.m.
Update 09/05/2024 20:14
