May 11 – The international players union FIFPro is the latest organisation to express their opposition to Gianni Infantino’s ambitious plans to change the landscape of world football with two new competitions, a revamped Club World Cup and a new FIFA Nations League.
FIFPro says the wellbeing of its members needs to be taken into account if FIFA adds or enlarges international competitions.
Infantino’s proposed Club World Cup would involve expanding it to 24 teams – including 12 from Europe – and staging it every four years, starting from 2021, instead of annually as happens at present.
The Nations League would be a global version of the new competition being introduced by UEFA later this year.
“In the light of the current discussions, it would be remiss if FIFPro did not explore the impact of these proposals on players,” FIFPro’s European president Bobby Barnes told a meeting in Serbia, according to a FIFPro statement. “While other stakeholders might have other priorities, the health and well-being of the players has to be our first priority.”
Infantino has said a group of investors has guaranteed up to $25 billion for the two competitions and FIFA revealed it has met yet again with a group of elite clubs to gauge their reaction to the new ideas, unlikely to go down well with the European Clubs Association. A report in the New York Times listed the clubs involved as including Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich.
Under the proposals for the expanded Club World Cup, more than $2 billion of revenue is predicted per tournament of which 75% would be distributed to the 24 clubs.
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