Furious football bosses are asking the European Commission to intervene in how football’s governing body FIFA plans to change the international match schedule.
The world football players union FIFPRO Europe and sports association European Leagues allege that elite players’ health is suffering from a relentless match calendar. FIFA recently decided to add the expanded Club World Cup, slated to begin in 2025, as a new tournament to the international schedule.
Their complaint to the European Commission’s powerful antitrust arm claims that FIFA breached EU competition rules and abused its dominant position by making such changes without fully consulting national leagues and players representatives.
“For several years, the leagues and player unions have repeatedly urged FIFA to develop a clear, transparent, and fair process regarding the international match calendar, but FIFA has consistently refused,” the groups said on Tuesday in a statement.
FIFA is favoring “its own commercial interests,” while harming the “economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players,” they said.
In response to the allegations, FIFA told POLITICO: “The current calendar was unanimously approved by the FIFA Council, which is composed of representatives from all continents, including Europe, following a comprehensive and inclusive consultation, which included FIFPRO and league bodies.”
The complaint is the latest of a raft of football issues which have landed in the EU’s in-tray, including the European Super League fight, a battle over megabucks agents and a scrap over potential Gulf subsidies in football.
FIFPRO Europe and the European Leagues claim that due to FIFA’s unilateral decisions, the international calendar is now “beyond saturation,” representing also “a risk for the health of players.”
FIFA, as the world governing body of football, is responsible for organizing the international match calendar, as well as deciding which players must be released to play for national teams and sanctioning clubs and players for non-compliance.
National leagues and football players therefore need to adapt to the international scheduling adopted by FIFA by compressing their schedule to follow the match calendar, or reducing their number of games.
A 2023 report published by FIFPRO found that due to an expanding calendar the workload and pressure for players had significantly increased, resulting in less time for rest and recovery, and sleep deprivation due to constant traveling.
For its part, FIFA said: “[Our] calendar is the only instrument ensuring that international football can continue to survive, co-exist, and prosper alongside domestic and continental club football.”
“Some leagues in Europe — themselves competition organizers and regulators — are 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,” the football governing body added.
“By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game,” FIFA said.
In May, FIFPRO and the World Leagues Association wrote to FIFA threatening legal action if FIFA would not reschedule the Club World Cup — set to take place between 32 teams in the United States in June and July 2025 — and pause the Intercontinental Cup tournament, before a full agreement would have been reached.FIFA has so far ignored their call, saying that the new Club World Cup conforms to rules around rest periods for players. FIFA has repeatedly rejected claims that FIFPRO and the World Leagues Association were not consulted over plans to host the competition.
English and French player unions — both members of FIFPRO Europe — took legal action against FIFA at the Brussels Court of Commerce in June, asking for EU legal guidance from the EU’s top court.
This story has been updated.
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