The professional football players union, FIFPRO, and a host of top European leagues have filed a legal complaint to the European Commission over what it termed an “abusive” international match calendar by the world football governing body, FIFA.
FIFPRO and the European Leagues spoke out earlier in July, when it took legal action with the petition focusing solely on the expansion of the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, which will increase to 46 and 32 teams, respectively.
The European Leagues, which represents 39 leagues and 1,130 clubs across 33 countries excluding the Spanish La Liga, who however joined the action along with the FIFPRO’s European branch, claimed that FIFA has abused its position under the laws governing European competitions as regards the international fixture calendar.
Director of Policy at FIFPRO, Alexander Bielefeld, said the different parties “had submitted a legal complaint to the European Commission” and called it “unprecedented”.
The detailed and evidenced complaint was formally submitted to the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.
Just recently, high-profile stars like Manchester City’s Rodri, Liverpool’s Allison Becker, and Real Madrid’s Dani Carvajal have spoken out against the increased injury fears due to the increasing number of matches they are expected to play in a calendar year.
Rodri, Carvajal, and Gleison Bremer are among the top players to have suffered season-ending injuries, making these concerns very viable.
