World Cup
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Two of the biggest player unions in European football have launched legal action against FIFA after calling the new Club World Cup a “tipping point” in the demands placed upon its members.
The English Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and its French counterparts, the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels, will argue the rights of players are being violated under EU laws after FIFA added its new 32-club competition on to the end of the 2024-25 season.
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FIFPro, the global footballers union, is also supporting the case and believe the lack of meaningful consultation from the governing body has forced them to “ensure that the fundamental rights of players are fully respected” with action beginning at the Brussels Court of Commerce.
They will ask the case to be referred to the European Court of Justice, where they will look to challenge the legality of FIFA’s ability to “unilaterally” set the International Match Calendar.
FIFA has been on collision course with FIFPro and its member unions since it confirmed in 2022 that 32 clubs would be invited to play in a new and expanded competition staged in the US next summer.
That will see teams, including Real Madrid, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, asked to play as many as seven games in a competition spanning almost a month between June 15 and July 13.
Unions say that will effectively add six weeks of work to the already congested calendars of elite players. It is has been estimated that some players could feature in as many 85 games for club and country next season.
FIFPro had already been critical of the Club World Cup’s timing in the middle of a summer break but, as promised by PFA chief executive Maheta Molango last month, there has now been a legal challenge initiated against the competition’s organisers.
“Since all attempts at dialogue have failed, it is now up to us to ensure that the fundamental rights of players are fully respected by taking the matter to the European courts and thus to the ECJ,” said David Terrier, President of FIFPRO Europe.
“It’s not a question of stigmatising a particular competition, but of denouncing both the underlying problem and the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The legal action is set to focus on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, with guarantees workers and their trade unions are protected against the demands of their employers. Among those are the right to an annual period of paid leave, healthy working conditions and the right to negotiate collective agreements.
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FIFPro has long campaigned against the increased workload of their players and it has been the addition of the Club World Cup in a season that will already include an expanded Champions League that has been the trigger for a legal case.
The FIFPro member unions will be represented by law firm Dupont-Hissel, whose lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont won the Bosman ruling, allowing players to leave clubs on free transfers, in 1995.
“This is an important moment for players and for their rights as employees. Everyone across football knows that the fixture calendar is broken to the point that it has now become unworkable,” said Molango, who is also a qualified lawyer.
“The most in-demand players are now part of an endless schedule of games and competitions for club and country, with their limits constantly being pushed through expansion and the creation of new competitions.
“I am constantly told by those members that what they want is a properly protected break where they can rest and recharge. Those who run the game know this. We have made sure they have heard it directly from players, but nothing has been done.
“Players are not being listened to and they want to see action. As their union, we have a duty to intervene and to enforce their legal rights as employees. Ultimately, that time has now come.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino came out fighting against critics of the Club World Cup last month when calling it a “futile debate” at the governing body’s annual congress.
His argument is that FIFA organise only a small number of games in comparison to domestic and European competitions and that revenues are then used to fund the development of football in 211 countries.
The Athletic has contacted FIFA for comment.
GO DEEPER
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(Photo by James Baylis – AMA/Getty Images)
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