By Andrew Warshaw
March 23 – Leagues across Europe are angrily refusing to accept FIFA’s decision to switch the 2022 Qatar World Cup to winter, saying they will back any legal action against the unprecedented move.
Following a meeting in Barcelona, the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) adopted a resolution condemning last week’s ruling to move the competition from its traditional date in June and July to November and December to avoid the searing heat in the Gulf, saying it will “seriously damage the European Leagues both from a sporting and financial standpoint.”
While Europe’s clubs, with whom the EPFL were strongly aligned during the lengthy 2022 consultation process, appear to have accepted a winter World Cup now that they have been offered the required compensation, the leagues are still fuming since, they say, they are the ones worst affected.
Both parties had joined forces to come up with a May compromise rather than winter but that was ruled out by the FIFA task force examining dates, led by Asian football supremo Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.
The hard-hitting EPFL resolution questioned the motives of those involved in the decision-making process which “further demonstrates the lack of good governance within international football governing bodies which are not taking into consideration the interests of the whole football family but solely those of their member associations.
“The Leagues are the ones directly impacted by this decision. It is unthinkable that the Leagues are not part of the decision making structure concerning competitions’ calendar which is one of their core competences.
“There is still a great deal of work to be done seeking to lessen the very severe damage that this decision causes. In particular the need to tackle several issues such as the international match calendar 2018-2022, the leagues’ ability to continue playing their domestic competitions during the world cup as an option, the contractual agreement between clubs and players during such period and the impact on the Leagues’ commercial interests, among others.
“Taking into consideration all these reasons, the EPFL is ready to support any legal actions that individual leagues may undertake in this respect in the near future.”
FIFA announced on Friday that it would triple the amount paid to clubs who release their players for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to $209 million. But EPLF chairman Frederic Thiriez said his organisation had to look out for the interests of all clubs, with the vast majority of the compensation going to the top clubs in a few leagues.
“The EPFL has the responsibility to protect the interests of all clubs, including those that do not release players for the national associations competitions. Today, the interests of those clubs are not protected,” he said.
Thiriez said the joint EPFL-European Club Assocation report recommending the tournament be played in May had been completely ignored. “We are not against Qatar but against playing the World Cup in winter. We tried to find solutions … our report though was not even examined and that is not acceptable.
“Seventy-five percent of players at the World Cup will come from our leagues and it is not possible to have a system of governance where our views are not involved. We want to be around the table in talks.”
The president of the Spanish league Javier Tebas said it was “an outrage” that the tournament will take place in November and December. “It’s a catastrophe for the European leagues,” Tebas was quoted as saying.
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