Bad News, Good News As FIFA Faces Another Legal Scrap Over Right To Govern The Game
The bad news for world football governing body FIFA is that FIFPRO, the European Leagues and Spain’s LaLiga have filed a joint complaint against the international match schedule with European Union regulators . . . the good news for FIFA is that any ruling on the action is unlikely for at least a year when momentum will be fast building towards the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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The complainants are concerned by the impact of an overstuffed calendar on player health. A statement said: “The complaint explains how FIFA’s imposition of decisions on the international calendar is an abuse of dominance and violates European Union law.”
FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP The last straw for the complainants was the scheduling of a 32-team FIFA Club World Cup in the United States next summer. As well as adding matches, that could delay clubs’ pre-season tours designed to expand global fan bases.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas accused FIFA of “acting solely in its own interest, without considering the damage to the entire football ecosystem.”
“IT’S TOO MUCH” French captain Kylian Mbappe, in a video aired at the three bodies’ news conference, said: “When it’s too much, it’s too much.”
The English Premier League’s ceo Richard Masters said: “It is getting to a tipping point. The feedback we have from players is that there is too much football being played and there is constant expansion.”
FIFA argues that the international calendar was approved by representatives of all continents including Europe after consultation with FIFPRO and leagues.
European governing body UEFA has also increased its schedule, notably with the new Champions League format, but not been targeted in the complaint to regulators.
Mathieu Moreuil, Premier League director of international football relations and EU affairs, said that was because FIFA was responsible for the international calendar and relations were different with UEFA thanks to dialogue.
BUSY SUMMER The English PFA highlighted that for some of its members “the 2024-25 season is set to roll almost seamlessly into the 2025-26 season”. The Premier League campaign finishes on May 25, before the Champions League final on May 31.
There will then be a window of international games from 2-10 June before the start of the extended Club World Cup. Manchester City have been rebuffed in reqesting a delay to their matches at the start of the 2025-26 season because of their involvement in the Club World Cup.
TRANSFER SYSTEM Earlier on Monday, FIFA said it would start negotiations with the sport’s stakeholders on the transfer system after the EU ruled parts of it were unlawful.
FIFA regulations say a player who terminates a contract before its term “without just cause” is liable to pay compensation to the club, and where the player joins a new club they will be jointly liable for payment of compensation.
This follows a European Court of Justice assessment in favour of the former France player Lassana Diarra in a dispute with FIFA.
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