CNN
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FIFA is facing a legal challenge over the world governing body’s “unilateral” decision to set the international match calendar – including an expanded 32-team schedule FIFA Club World Cup – unions representing football players said in a statement on Thursday.
The complaint filed by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFPA), supported by FIFPRO Europe, accuses FIFA of violating players’ rights and potentially EU competition law by creating an “overcrowded and unworkable” schedule.
According to FIFPRO Europe, FIFA “has failed to engage or negotiate meaningfully and has unilaterally pursued a programme of competition expansion despite opposition from players’ unions.”
“Since all attempts at dialogue have failed, it is now up to us to ensure that the players’ fundamental rights are fully respected by taking the case to the European courts and therefore to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU),” said FIFPRO President David Terrier.
“It is not a question of stigmatizing a particular competition, but of denouncing both the underlying problem and the straw that broke the camel’s back,” added Mr. Terrier.
CNN has contacted FIFA for comment on the lawsuit.
Next year’s Club World Cup is due to take place in the United States from mid-June to mid-July, and unions say it undermines players’ right to an annual break, breaching the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU) “without any serious justification”.
The players’ unions are asking the Brussels Commercial Court to refer the case to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling over concerns about forced labour, the right to healthy working conditions, the right to collective bargaining and restriction of competition.
“There are too many emerging cases in football where players’ rights and the legal implications of decisions by governing bodies and competition organisers are seen as something that can simply be ignored,” PFA chairman Maheta Molango said in a statement. statement on Thursday.
“Too many people in football act as if the industry is exempt from the normal demands of employers and employees.
“The players are not being listened to and they want concrete measures. As a union, we have a duty to step in and enforce their legal rights as employees. Ultimately, that time has now come,” Molango added.
In May, FIFPRO and the World League Associations (WLA) sent a letter to FIFA threatening legal action over the global football calendar, which they said was “now beyond saturation, to the point where national leagues are unable to properly stage their competitions” while “players are being pushed beyond their limits, with significant risk of injury and impact on their well-being”.
At the time, FIFA denied allegations that it had failed to engage stakeholders on the football calendar and said the issue had been discussed with FIFPRO and the WLA on several occasions as part of the broader topic of the future of football in 2021 and 2022.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino used his opening speech at the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok on 17 May to defend the football calendar.
“FIFA finances football all over the world,” Infantino said.
“The revenue we generate doesn’t just go to a few clubs in one country, it goes to 211 countries around the world. No other organisation does that,” he added.
In addition to the Club World Cup, the three European club competitions will be expanded to 36 teams for the 2024/2025 season.
The group stage has been consolidated into a single 36-team league, with the Champions League and Europa League clubs playing eight games instead of the current six. Conference League clubs will still play six games.
In these three European competitions, the teams ranked 1st to 8th under the new format automatically qualify for the round of 16. The clubs finishing 9th to 24th will then play two additional matches in a play-off phase to determine who advances to the round of 16.
According to a recent study conducted by FIFPRO and Football BenchmarkReal Madrid and Brazil superstar Vinícius Júnior, 23, has already played more than double the number of games played by his compatriot and former Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho before he turned 24.
Before the Champions League final on June 1, Vinícius Jr.’s Madrid teammate Jude Bellingham had played 18,486 minutes during his young career, divided between club and international competitions.
By comparison, England and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney – who, like Bellingham, became a first-team regular at the age of 16 – played 15,481 minutes before he turned 21. David Beckham played almost five times fewer minutes than Bellingham did at the same age.
