Fixture congestion resolution would end strike concern, FIFA told

A successful outcome in a legal action against FIFA to resolve the fixture congestion row could help avoid more “extreme measures” such as a players’ strike, a Premier League executive has said.

European leagues and player unions lodged a formal complaint against FIFA with the European Commission on Monday, alleging football’s global governing body has abused a dominant position and breached EU competition law over its setting of the international calendar.

The Commission will now begin a preliminary investigation into the complaint, and if FIFA is ultimately found in breach, it could be ordered to cease and desist and forced back into consultation.

The lodging of a complaint by the European Leagues umbrella group – which includes the Premier League among its membership – and the European arm of world players’ union FIFPRO, comes at a time when players are increasingly speaking out about the demands of the football calendar, with this season due to conclude with the first 32-team Club World Cup.

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Manchester City midfielder Rodri said last month players were “close” to going on strike, and the Premier League’s director of international relations Mathieu Moreuil said on Monday: “We feel for the players, and what we’re doing today is to try to find a solution to avoid those very, very extreme measures.

“I hope we’re not going to get to that point, but it’s obviously something that the players have mentioned, and we have to listen to that.”

Moreuil was speaking at a press conference in Brussels to mark the formal lodging of the complaint, after legal action was first announced back in July.

The leagues and unions argue FIFA is abusing a dominant position by being able to set the calendar and impose mandatory release periods for its international competitions, and that it has failed to consult in any meaningful way.

They say this has caused economic harm to domestic leagues and places impossible demands on players, with those involved in the Club World Cup set to find it especially difficult to fit in a break before the 2025-26 domestic season starts.

League sources point to Manchester City’s recent request to postpone domestic matches at the start of next season in order to allow more recovery time after the Club World Cup as a prime example of how this new competition will impact on the schedule and quality of their own, and on player welfare.

The Premier League can point to the fact that it has been a 20-team competition for almost 30 years and that fixture congestion in the club game is the result of expansion at the international level by UEFA and now FIFA.

FIFA insists the calendar announced at its 2023 Congress in Rwanda was the result of extensive consultation, and that it is fully within its rights to set the parameters of its own competitions like the Club World Cup provided they fit within the agreed calendar framework.

Lorin Parys, the chief executive of the Belgian Pro League which is part of the group that has taken action against FIFA, said: “Just when we succeeded, together with the fans and many other allies to keep our front door closed for the threat of the Super League, here comes FIFA through our back door whistling and yelling ‘surprise, we’ve got a present for you guys!’.

“(The Club World Cup) is really the Super League under a different name, at least it has the seeds in it of what could become a Super League in the future.

“We feel that as the world football body, FIFA should really be fronting as a friend, but it acts more like a foe. That’s something that we want to change.”