The Premier League is part of a formal complaint being made to the European Commission against FIFA which accuses world football’s governing body’s international match calendar of being “beyond saturation”.
The legal action will be jointly lodged by the European Leagues — representing professional football in over 30 European nations, including the Premier League — alongside La Liga and FIFPRO Europe, the umbrella body of European player unions.
The filing claims that the international calendar is now “unsustainable” and that it “risks player’s health”. A joint statement from European Leagues, La Liga and FIFPRO Europe says: “FIFA has consistently refused to include national leagues and player unions in its decision-making process.”
The complaint alleges that “FIFA’s conduct infringes EU (European Union) competition law and notably constitutes an abuse of dominance”, while adding that world football’s governing body has a “conflict of interest” as both the global regulator of football and a competition organiser.
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Maheta Molango, the CEO of the Professional Football Association (PFA) and a FIFPRO board member, added that the legal action is “unfortunate but inevitable” with calls from leagues and players ignored.
“What unites us is the impact that decisions about the fixture calendar, made by international governing bodies, are having,” Molango said.
“In England, we’ve already seen major changes to the structure of the FA Cup which have essentially been forced by the expansion of international competitions. Those changes affect all our members and their careers. It’s the knock-on impact we’ve been warning about for a long time.”
The expanded Club World Cup has been a point of contention (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images)
FIFA responded on Tuesday by saying that there had been “comprehensive and inclusive consultation, which included FIFPRO and league bodies” over the football calendar.
The organisation alleges that several leagues are “acting with commercial self-interest, hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world”, highlighting that their calendars are filled with “friendlies and summer tours often involving extensive global travel”.
The Athletic reported in May FIFA was being threatened with legal action by FIFPro and the World Leagues Association, the bodies representing professional players and leagues, if it does not reschedule the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States.
The 2025 Club World Cup is the first edition of the expanded tournament, which will happen every four years. It has been increased to 32 teams and takes place over 29 days between June and July.
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(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images))
