July 23 – Open warfare has broken out between FIFA and the European leagues and player unions after the latter announced they had teamed up to carry out their threat of legal action over the protracted international match calendar, in particular the staging of 2025 Club World Cup.
The European Leagues organisation – representing professional football in more than 30 European nations, including the Premier League – announced it will file a complaint to the European Commission along with players’ union Fifpro Europe about FIFA adding to already congested fixture schedules and putting players’ health at risk.
Intensifying the spat with world football’s governing body, the move follows that of the English, French and Italian player unions against FIFA on the same issue in a Brussels commercial court last month.
It also comes hot on the heels of warnings to FIFA in May urging a rethink on what was claimed as an “inherently abusive” decision-making process.
The leagues and unions are hugely concerned about the introduction of an expanded and highly controversial 32-team Club World Cup straight after the regular European season, and also about the apparent limited consultation by FIFA which is also increasing the 2026 World Cup to 48 nations.
“Regretfully, FIFA has consistently refused to include national leagues and player unions in its decision-making process,” European Leagues and Fifpro Europe said in a statement.
The European Commission in Brussels is the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union and can intervene on alleged breaches of competition law.
The complaint to Brussels, joined by Spain’s La Liga, will claim “FIFA’s conduct infringes EU competition law and notably constitutes an abuse of dominance. FIFA holds a dual role as both the global regulator of football and a competition organiser.”
“This creates a conflict of interest, which, consistent with recent case law of the EU courts, requires FIFA to exercise its regulatory functions in a way that is transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate.”
“The international match calendar is now beyond saturation and has become unsustainable for national leagues and a risk for the health of players.”
FIFA, not surprisingly, hit back with a vengeance given that the CWC expansion is the personal baby of Gianni Infantino.
Infantino made his position abundantly clear during the FIFA Congress in May when he infuriated stakeholders by declaring: “We should probably stop this futile debate, which is really pointless and focus on what we have to do, what our mission is, which is to organise.”
After this latest development, his organisation promptly rushed out a counter-statement suggesting some leagues in Europe were “acting with commercial self-interest, hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world.”
“Those leagues apparently prefer a calendar filled with friendlies and summer tours, often involving extensive global travel. By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game.”
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