FIFPRO claims that FIFA‘s “short-sighted” intentions to start a 32-team Club World Cup in 2025 are endangering the wellbeing of the players.
At a news conference on Friday, the football governing body presented their brief recommendations for the new iteration of the competition, which is presently played yearly by seven teams.
The FIFA Council met earlier in the day and authorized plans to move through with the expanded competition, which will be contested once every four years.
In addition, FIFA announced the creation of a Women’s Club World Cup and the alternating-year World Series event, which would feature nations from other continents.
However, the global union for professional football players has hit out at the announcement, claiming there had been no dialogue with FIFA prior to the competitions being ratified.
“FIFPRO took note with surprise of today’s decisions by the FIFA Council concerning the international match calendars for men’s and women’s football that could have serious consequences for and aggravate pressure on the welfare and employment of players,” the statement read.
“Despite an understanding FIFPRO reached with FIFA last week that a joint negotiation of the international match calendar would take place before the FIFA Congress in March 2023, these decisions were taken unilaterally without seriously consulting, let alone agreeing, with the players.
“The announcements today of a new format for the Club World Cup as of 2025, new principles for the Men’s and Women’s IMC [international match calendar] post-2024 and 2023 respectively, including the ‘rolling over’ of the current women’s IMC into 2024-25 which will cause severe congestion during the Olympic competition year, have created new conditions, that further increase pressure on player workload and their job.
“Once again, decisions to scale competitions without implementing appropriate safeguards are short-sighted and pay no attention to players’ health and performance.
“This decision once more shows that key stakeholders of the game are not being appropriately involved in decision making of football, even when it concerns the core of their fundamental rights.”
It was confirmed on Friday that Morocco will host the 2023 Club World Cup in February, when European champions Real Madrid will be seeking a record-extending fifth title.