Brussels. The main bodies representing footballers and national leagues in Europe filed a complaint with the European Commission on Monday, accusing FIFA of abusing its dominant position over changes to the international match calendar and the continued expansion of tournaments.
The European branch of FIFPro, the reunited European leagues and the Spanish league (LaLiga) announced, during a joint press conference in Brussels, that the governing body of world football “abuses an obvious conflict of interest” by being “a regulatory and , at the same time, organizer of competitions” in violation of European law.
FIFPro is the global union of footballers, while the European leagues bring together more than a thousand clubs from 33 European countries.
According to these organizations, FIFA’s rules and behavior “harm the economic interests of national leagues, as well as the health and safety of European football players.”
“Justice action is necessary before the European Commission to safeguard the European football sector,” they added.
FIFA is particularly accused of failing to consult on recent changes to the calendar, such as the introduction of a 32-team club World Cup at the end of the season.
Something that the world football body denies, alluding to, at least, a common meeting in which its president Gianni Infantino participated with the leaders of FIFpro and those of the professional footballers’ association (PFA), the players’ union in England and Wales, which will take place in Manchester in 2022.
The first edition of the expanded Club World Cup will take place in the United States in June and July of next year, with 12 European clubs expected to participate.
Thus, many players will be forced to play during a time when they could be enjoying vacations, a year before the World Cup expanded to 48 teams, which will be held in Mexico, the United States and Canada.
A recent FIFPro report accused world football’s governing bodies of endangering the health of footballers, while some leading players raised the possibility of going on strike to protest against the increasing demands to which they are subjected.
Representatives of the national leagues, for their part, fear that their competitions will be affected, because the best players will miss domestic games to rest.
Before that complaint, FIFA had pointed out in July the “hypocrisy” of the leagues, “which apparently prefer a calendar full of summer tours, which often involve numerous trips around the world.”
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