September 5 – In a new report, world players union Fifpro spotlighted the demands on Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez (now Atlético Madrid) and Erling Haaland to back their legal arguments in lawsuits against FIFA over the packed calendar and the addition of next year’s Club World Cup.
On Thursday, Fifpro published their annual Player Workload Monitoring report that surveyed about 1,500 players and the Argentinian was shown to have been picked in 83-match-day squads last season.
Manchester City’s Phil Foden played in 72 games, including England’s run to the Euro 2024.
In contrast, Haaland, the club’s prolific striker, enjoyed a summer break after Norway did not qualify for the European Championship. Fifpro board member Maheta Molango compared Halaand – and his fast start to the season with seven goals to “being a machine”.
“This season will be the defining season,” said Fifpro board member Maheta Molango (pictured). At the end of the current season, FIFA will stage the expanded 32-team Club World Cup in the United States and Molango called it “a tipping point”. He added that Fifpro’s legal cases against the world federation were not an attack on FIFA per se, but on the accumulation of matches.
Fifpro has launched two lawsuits against the global governing body.
In June, player unions in England and France filed a claim against FIFA at the Brussels Court of Commerce. That same month, Fifpro submitted a complaint at the European Commission arguing that FIFA took unilateral action when expanding the Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup. Last May, Fifpro and World Leagues had expressed their concern over the expanded competition in a letter addressed to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and secretary-general Mattias Grafstrom.
“The gap between those who plan and schedule complex international competitions and those who play and experience them has never been bigger,” said Fifpro policy director Alexander Bielefeld.
This season’s calendar has also become more congested with the introduction of the new Champions League format. Clubs will play eight instead of six group-stage matches and up to four more matches in the entire competition, but Fifpro said that with UEFA there had been genuine consultation in the process.
“Lots of people tell us, ‘Why don’t you also attack UEFA?’” said French union official David Terrier. “The difference is we have had discussions with UEFA. There is a will to find solutions together. UEFA opened the door to us. That hasn’t been the case with FIFA.”
Fifpro argues that there are not enough safeguards for players and that the demands also risk the future of younger players. Last season, some elite players had as little as 42 days of rest. “There are no safeguards,” said Fifpro researcher Darren Burgess. “The science tells us that these athletes are still growing and we are putting them under more and more load which generally leads to injury.
Fifpro said they have commissioned KU Leuven University to research and examine ‘occupational safety and health’ in the game.
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