“We regret the fact that, unilaterally and without consultations, a competition has been added to an already crowded calendar. The first studies by FIFPro (the international footballers’ union, ed.) on how harmful this whole set of matches is for the health of the top players they date back to 2019. The legal action is a strategy shared with the World League, the Lega Serie A is also with us in this battle. It must have an immediate response, unfortunately it hasn’t had it until today context in which the top players could play 85 matches during a sporting season without interruption compared to the previous one. We have truly reached a point of no return.” So to the microphones of Radio Anch’io Sport on Rai Radio 1 Umberto Calcagnopresident ofItalian Footballers’ Association (AIC), on the legal action filed against the FIFA for the creation of Club World Cup 2025.
Ancelotti’s exit, later denied, at the Club World Cup confirms that the problem is also felt by the big European clubs: “Without a doubt, also because Mister Ancelotti’s interview was much broader: the economic aspect had more prominence, but we talked about the difficulty of managing the boys in a season that would never end. I believe that at this moment there is finally a different focus on this aspect: the managers and coaches who are trying to plan the next sports season don’t know how to do it. We did a study: in a squad of 32 players, eight play 50%. of the overall playing time. We are in a situation of overload. There is also a huge concern on the part of the players that they will no longer be able to carry out their activities and that they will not be able to be at their best for such a high number of games.”
There is also a risk of impoverishing the general level and quality: “This is another incredible aspect of the situation: we ask these guys to play more, but for this reason they can train very little, if almost never. Players with back-to-back commitments, i.e. with less than five days of recovery from one game to the next, they now only carry out training or finishing sessions. We have reached a point where, in order to maximize revenues, we risk our product being poorer in the long run. I believe it is something that doesn’t even pay off on an economic level medium-long term, The creation of the Club World Cup will also damage the recovery of our championship and in addition there is always a shift of resources towards these tournaments, to the detriment of the internal European championships, the best in the world. Why ruin them in function of something that will certainly produce new wealth but will probably not cultivate new passion in our kids?”.
Concretely, what could be your minimum objective? “We must aim to all sit at the same table. There are also collective agreements that provide for weekday periods and which today would disappear. The positive thing is that it is no longer just a trade union issue. If FIFA continues to refuse the possibility of interfering, we will move forward. You don’t have to be a great expert to understand that a regulatory body that also imposes the dates of the national teams and everything that is organized in the world of football cannot alone insert a new competition into the only rest period left for the players. A problem that will soon arise in women’s football too, there is talk of the next Club World Cup between mid-January and mid-February, with the championships having to stop to allow it to be played. It is now such a broad topic that we hope it will be resolved soon.”
