It was in Doha, two days before the World Cup final in Qatar, when Gianni Infantino confirmed the creation of the new Club World Cupa quadrennial tournament to be held in the summer with the 32 best teams on the planet. A format in the image and likeness of the one that triumphs with the national teams and that could put an end to the poorly realized idea of the previous Mundialito, in which the champions of each Confederation met during the winter.
Months later they made official the classification criteria for the clubs, the distribution by continents and the headquarters of the first edition: the United States. Also the dates: from June 15 to July 13. Nothing more was needed, the problem was over.
Now, eight months before the opening ceremony, presumably at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, the intensity and volume of complaints from those who they do not agree with this new World Cupforcibly put on the calendar without a prior agreement with either the players, the clubs or the Leagues.
«A single Madrid match is worth 20 million and FIFA wants to give us that figure for the entire tournament: negative. Like us, several clubs will reject the invitation,” said Carlo Ancelotti in an interview with an Italian media last June, statements that Real Madrid had to deny almost immediately, but which made the white team’s discomfort clear, and of many others, with the imposition of the highest international organization.
Since then, other critical voices have been raised. The French and English football players’ associations filed lawsuits before the Commercial Court in Brussels. And last Monday, the European division of Fifprothe world footballers’ union, together with the association of European Leagues, presented a complaint to the European Commission in which it accused FIFA of abusing its dominant position in establishing the calendars and for the continuous expansion of the tournaments . “We don’t want that World Cup, they withdraw it now,” emphasized that day Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, who also assured that the governing body of world football has not sold the television rights nor has it obtained the sponsorships that it had budgeted for the payment to the participating clubs, which would force FIFA to use its own funds to finance the new competition.
Not many voices have been heard in favor of the tournament. One is that of Nasser Al Khelaifi, president of PSG, aligned with Infantino. “Whoever has complaints, don’t play it,” the Qatari snapped last week, at the end of a meeting of the Association of European Clubs. «The salaries of footballers go up and up, but then the income is the same. “What we are trying to do is recover the money for their costs.” An idea endorsed yesterday by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: «The players and their advisors have fallen into this trap. “Their complaints force the clubs to look for more income,” said the former Bayern Munich striker and manager in an interview with the German magazine ‘Kicker’.
And from discontent, to confusion, because the Club World Cup brings with it numerous doubts about what is going to happen to the footballers’ contracts during the dates in which it takes place. Many will have their contracts run out on June 30, right in the middle of the tournament, while others could take advantage of the summer transfer window to reinforce a rival club. This, without taking into account the difficulty of reconciling the differences in the registration periods and calendars of each club. Could it be the case that a player started the World Cup with one team and finished it with another? Will there be players who play only the first phase and not the playoffs due to being left without a contract? What if someone pays a player’s clause right before the final?
The FIFA has tried to resolve that matter by opening an exceptional registration period for the 32 participating teams between June 1 and 10, before the competition begins. Once it has started, coinciding with the end of the group stage and the start of the playoffs, a new registration period will open (from June 27 to July 3) so that clubs can cover player losses whose contracts end on June 30. FIFA also encourages clubs to extend these expiring agreements beyond the conclusion of the championship.
«The window from 1 to 10 is shoehorned in thinking about that competition. But since the European leagues will have already ended by that time, it does not have to harm any club,” Toni Roca, director of the specialized football office Himnus and the Sports Law Institute. «It will not involve any substantial modification to what we have today. Regarding the rest of the cases during the tournament, we will have to wait for FIFA to publish the complete Regulations and study it well. “I don’t think they accept anything that distorts or goes against the integrity of the competition, which is one of its workhorses.”
«FIFA cannot regulate anything from the workplace without the agreement of the employee and the employer. “Have you consulted with anyone?” Tebas asked himself last Monday, determined again, as he already did in the Super League case, to become the champion of change in the governance of planet football.
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