The Premier League will join other top soccer leagues in threatening to boycott the Club World Cup in response to what it says are illegal proposals from International Football Association’s governing body FIFA on Thursday.
The first revised tournament featuring 32 teams is due to be held in the United States next summer and will feature defending champions Manchester City and 2021 winners Chelsea.
£600 million but seven games left
The Club World Cup has previously been held every December and featured only four rounds of matches, with European and South American champions only qualifying from the semi-finals. The entire tournament lasted less than two weeks.
However, the new competition, which has a staggering £600 million prize pool, will last four weeks, during which the finalists will play seven matches.
FIFA bosses have dismissed concerns about player welfare, citing financial interests, but Premier League chairman Richard Masters, PFA chairman Maheta Molango and La Liga president Javier Tebas have all led threats to boycott the tournament because players’ fees are unsustainable.
The threat is clear: “We will not play in your Club World Cup. You are killing football.”
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“A problem for the entire football world”
Molango said: Sun He and other football officials have tried to discuss the issue with FIFA, but they have been unwilling to listen to their concerns.
“Football is killing its own product. Those who run football need to listen. If they don’t listen then we as the union have a responsibility to take action against the players and legal action is the next step,” he said.
“The governing bodies have had numerous opportunities to have meaningful discussions with us on this matter but they have not done so. The current workload for players is unsustainable. People are beginning to realise that the number of games being crammed into the schedule just doesn’t fit. This is a problem across football.”
The PFA and international players’ association FIFPRO believe that scheduling the Club World Cup between domestic seasons would force players to return to action without the minimum three-week rest period that is stipulated in all professional contracts.
They believe FIFA’s proposal is illegal and have asked their lawyers to prepare legal documents to send to FIFA unless the tournament is cancelled.
Masters is due to attend the FIFPRO and PFA workload meeting in London on Thursday along with Tebas and Molango.