BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) (ITALPRESS) – From long faces to legal action. Players, coaches and industry insiders have long been protesting against too many matches and increasingly clogged calendars, a discontent that was put down on paper today: players’ unions and leagues have filed a complaint with the European Commission “over Fifa’s imposition of the international match calendar.” The complaint is based on a number of points, starting with Fifa’s “conflict of interest as an organizer of competitions and at the same time a governing body, coupled with a lack of meaningful engagement with stakeholders,” which would thus violate EU competition law. The complaint focuses particularly on “the international calendar of men’s matches, including the Fifa Club World Cup 2025 and the Fifa World Cup 2026.” According to FIFPRO Europe and the European Leagues, “the over-saturation of the international football calendar jeopardizes the safety and well-being of players and threatens the economic and social sustainability of important national competitions that have been appreciated by fans in Europe and around the world for generations.” Hence the complaint, formally filed with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, against FIFA “for its conduct regarding the imposition of the international calendar of matches.” A complaint that goes back a long way since the legal action was approved in July and “is part of the widespread concerns expressed publicly by footballers about the impact that an unsustainable football calendar has on their health, well-being and the longevity of their careers.” At a press conference in Brussels, the union and league leaders then went into detail, highlighting among other things “the absence of a proper decision-making process and the lack of meaningful engagement by FIFA with the players and the Leagues on issues related to the calendar, and how FIFA has used its regulatory power to promote its commercial interests at the expense of the stakeholders (players and leagues).” Recalling the recent EU rulings on the Superleague and Diarra cases, Fifa is asked to “exercise its functions as a regulatory body in a transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate manner, so as to neutralize said conflict of interest.” “Fifa’s rules and conduct fall far short of what is required by EU law and damage the economic interests of national leagues and the health and safety of European soccer players,” a joint note from unions and leagues further reads. “Legal action at the European Commission has become necessary to safeguard the European football sector, which is a global cultural and entertainment force. Luigi De Siervo, CEO of the Lega di Serie A, also spoke on the issue, a Serie A that “like almost all other European leagues, has not increased the number of matches in the last 20 years. On the contrary, Fifa and Uefa, cycle after cycle, have steadily increased the size of their competitions for both clubs and national teams, and now we have reached a saturation point in the calendar. But the difference is that Uefa had significant consultation with all stakeholders, including the leagues, and decided on a reform of the format of club competitions after a long discussion. Fifa,” De Siervo charges, “imposed its new format and competitions without any discussion, consultation and without agreeing to have any form of relationship with the organizers of the other competitions.
– photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
It’s war on the Fifa calendar, unions and leagues from the EU
