Footballers launch legal action against Fifa over new Club World Cup

Fifpro, the global footballers’ union, has gone through with its threat of court action against Fifa over player burnout at the expanded Club World Cup.

The lawsuit, also led by England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and its French counterpart, asks a Belgian court to refer the case to the European Court of Justice.

Fifpro said it had no other option than launching legal action after warnings went unheard over the scheduling of a 32-team Club World Cup in the United States next June and July.

David Terrier, president of Fifpro Europe, said: “Since all attempts at dialogue have failed, it is now up to us to ensure that the fundamental rights of players are fully respected by taking the matter to the European courts and thus to the ECJ. It’s not a question of stigmatising a particular competition, but of denouncing both the underlying problem and the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

The union is “challenging the legality of Fifa’s decisions to unilaterally set the international match calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the Fifa Club World Cup 2025”.

The PFA said it was seeking to enforce the legal rights of players to take guaranteed and protected breaks. Last month, unions warned burnt-out players are also ready to strike, as the Premier League also joined threats of unprecedented legal action.

“Something has to give,” said the league’s chief executive Richard Masters, speaking mainly in his additional role as chair of the World Leagues Forum. Demanding more consultation for domestic competitions in global calendar decisions, he added: “We think enough is enough and it’s a shame we are here discussing these things.” He said leagues were now “contemplating things that are genuinely last resort” in a “sad moment” for football.

Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham was highlighted as a player at high risk. He has played over 18,000 minutes of football, compared to David Beckham (3,929) and Wayne Rooney (15,481) at the same age.

As part of a review led by Fifpro, 50 per cent of players surveyed said they had been forced to play while already carrying an injury, while 82 per cent of managers said they had fielded a player they knew required a rest. Terrier said there was “an emergency” around growing mental and physical fatigue of players.

The revamped 32-team Fifa tournament is set to feature holders Manchester City and Chelsea in the USA next summer. Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich and Bellingham’s Real Madrid are also set to play in the four-week format, which has a £600million-plus prize fund.

But Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, last month described the prospect of a legal row as a “futile debate”. He said that even with the expanded Club World Cup, Fifa organised “around 1% of the games of the top clubs in the world” and that “the one or 2% of matches that Fifa organises is financing football all over the world”.