FIFA risks having to overcome a significant obstacle in organizing the new one Club World Cup to 32 teams, the first edition of which will be played in the United States of America in 2025. The international footballers’ union, Fifproand the organization World Leagues are threatening legal action if plans for the tournament proceed as planned.
The new competition is scheduled to take place in the United States in June next year and will involve 12 European teams, including the Italians Inter And Juventus. The two organizations have asked that the new Club World Cup be rescheduled and – the newspaper reveals The Times – sent a joint letter to FIFA stating that they had sought legal advice.
The two actors claim that FIFA’s new match calendar is beyond saturation, and that it is causing «economic damage» to the domestic leagues as well as placing a «significant risk of injury» for players. They also accuse FIFA of making decisions to benefit its own commercial interests. The letter asks the FIFA Council, at its meeting in Bangkok next week, to reschedule the competition and reopen discussions on the international match calendar.
In the new Club World Cup, teams will play three group stage matches and up to four knockout stage matches. The tournament will last around a month (from 15 June to 13 July), starting just two weeks after the Champions League final. The old Club World Cup will not disappear, but will remain on an annual basis and will be renamed Intercontinental Cup. Fifpro and the World Leagues are calling for that tournament to be eliminated.
In the letter, also sent to the president of FIFA Gianni Infantinowe read that «If FIFA refuses to formally commit to resolving the issues at its next council, we will be forced to advise our members of the options available to them, both individually and collectively, to proactively protect their interests. These options include legal action against FIFA, on which we have now commissioned external legal advice».
«FIFA has continually and consistently made unilateral decisions that benefit its own competitions and commercial interests, while negatively harming national leagues and players. For a significant period, FIFA ignored repeated attempts by leagues and unions to address this issue», we read again in the letter.
FIFA is yet to secure a broadcast partner for the new 32-team Club World Cup. According to rumours, Apple could acquire the TV rights of the competition at a global level, albeit for a much lower sum (there is talk of one billion dollars), compared to the 4 billion dollars initially esteemed by world football’s governing body.
