November 21 – A report published by Belgian University Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) and commissioned by global football players’ union Fifpro, has found that professional football is breaking legally required safety standards at both European and global level.
The report is to be submitted as evidence in the joint complaint filed against FIFA in the European courts by Fifpro Europe, European Leagues, and La Liga.
As is seemingly the case in every recent complaint about player welfare the expanded FIFA Club World Cup next year is the culprit. The major leagues of Europe are accusing FIFA over the expanding calendar, citing abuse of player wellbeing.
“It is sometimes striking that indeed, in the world of sports in general, employment and labour standards are sometimes overlooked,” Frank Hendrickx, director of the Institute for Labour Law at KU Leuven, said on a video call on Wednesday.
“From a labour law perspective, it’s the most logical conclusion to say professional football players are workers, and labour and employment standards nationally, internationally have to be applied.”
Fifpro has said that no consultation has taken place with the world’s governing body and that demands such as number of matches, international travel, late night travel, and sleep disruption, as well as the extensive demands during tournaments, are not taken into account when competition schedules and formats are drawn up.
“The report confirms that Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards, as defined by European and international frameworks, are fully applicable to the professional football industry,” Hendrickx said.
“FIFA is not only failing to protect players’ health and safety, but FIFA is also actively making it impossible to comply with these (health and safety) principles,” Alfonso Lamadrid, a lawyer with Garrigues and expert in EU competition law, said. “So there’s an element of active threat. The way FIFA has set up the calendar makes it impossible to comply with collective bargaining agreements, for example, so that is relevant to our case.”
See FIFA and European Leagues file complaint against FIFA’s ‘abuse of dominant position’ https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/10/14/fifpro-european-leagues-file-legal-complaint-fifas-abuse-dominant-position/
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at moc.l1732172925labto1732172925ofdlr1732172925owedi1732172925sni@o1732172925fni1732172925