A newly expanded Club World Cup is set to be hosted in the USA with FIFA’s tournament further increasing the demands of players with several major figures against the move
Football's top leagues and leading figures have joined forces to hit back at FIFA's revamped Club World Cup as they threaten to boycott it amid fears for player safety.
The threat is being spearheaded by Premier League chief Richard Masters, PFA boss Maheta Molango and LaLiga supremo Javier Tebas. FIFA figures have previously pushed back on fears over player welfare.
Those against it have vowed to undergo legal action unless the revamped 32-team tournament, which will include Manchester City and Chelsea, is rescheduled. Harry Kane's Bayern Munich and Jude Bellingham's Real Madrid are also set to play in the four-week tournament, being held in the USA, which has a £600million-plus prize fund.
Masters is head of the World League Association, which represents every major league in football. He will hold discussions with Tebas and Molango at the FifPro and PFA Player Workload Conference in London, reports The Sun.
City, the current holder, and PSG don't seem to be aligned on the tournament though with the French outfit excited by the prospect. Their chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is relishing the spectacle: "Listen, it’s an amazing competition the FIFA World Cup.
"I’m proud of my players for their national teams but the Club World Cup will be something different, something bigger with the fanbases of 32 clubs worldwide brought together. I am so excited for it."
Meanwhile Etihad chief Ferran Soriano has underlined the need to put players first. He said: "Like everything in life, it’s priorities.
"We have to decide what’s most important, starting with the health of the players. We have got into a spiral where everyone is defending each business and we can’t go on like this."
He also added: "Do they want to see an improved Champions League or the Club World Cup or a Nations League? We need a system that serves our fans without killing our players and we are far from that now."
Molango has said: "Sometimes the calendar can seem like distant conversation. When you look at the schedule for next summer, the UEFA Champions League final is May 31 and Nations League is June 4-June 10, then go to the USA from June 14 to July 13, then AFCON, then August 17 you start the league. I don't know how do you do that?"
He continued: "The difference between a World Cup of the national teams and a World Cup of clubs… the national team it’s a few players and they come back and you manage. When it’s Club World Cup everyone goes.
"So everyone at [Man] City will be busy until, most likely, until July and within a month they play in the Premier League."
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