The creation of the new FIFA Club World Cup, scheduled to be played in 2025, has put the organisation at odds with many clubs and the World Footballers’ Union.
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The new tournament will feature 32 teams: 12 from Europe, 6 from South America, 4 from Africa, 4 from Asia, 4 from Concacaf, one from Oceania and one from the United States, the host country. It will be played from June 15 to July 13, 2025 in the United States.
However, the tournament has already sparked a strong outcry and on Tuesday, FIFPro Europe and European Leagues (which brings together more than a thousand clubs from 33 countries) filed a formal complaint with the European Commission.
This is the complaint of European Leagues and FIFPro against FIFA
In a statement, the two parties announced that FIFA “has harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the well-being of players” and that its role as regulator and organiser of competitions is a conflict of interest.
The governing body of world football has been accused of failing to consult recent changes to the calendar, meaning many of the continent’s top players will be forced to take part at a time when they would otherwise have been granted a long end-of-season break, a year before the 2026 World Cup.
“The international match calendar is already beyond saturation and has become unsustainable for national leagues and a risk to the health of players,” FIFPro and European Leagues said.
“FIFA’s decisions in recent years have repeatedly favoured its own competitions and commercial interests, neglected its responsibilities as a governing body and harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players,” they added.
“National leagues and players’ unions, which represent the interests of all clubs and all players at national level, and regulate industrial relations through collectively agreed solutions, cannot accept global regulations being decided unilaterally,” The parties insist that “legal action is now the only responsible step for European leagues and players’ unions to protect football, its ecosystem and its workforce from unilateral decisions by FIFA.”
Background to the new complaint against FIFA
In December last year, the Court of Justice of the European Union required FIFA and other governing bodies to exercise their regulatory functions in a transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate manner.
The Spanish league, which does not belong to European leagues, also joined the complaint. Earlier in June, the Professional Footballers’ Association of England and its French counterpart took action in the Belgian courts to determine whether Fifa’s actions had violated the rights of players under European Union law.
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With AFP
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