LONDON: Leagues and unions will lodge a legal complaint with the European Commission on Monday accusing FIFA of abusing a dominant position over the fixture calendar.
The group, which includes the Premier League via its membership of the European Leagues collective, argue football’s global governing body did not properly consult over the new calendar before it was announced in March last year, and that as a result the schedule has gone “beyond saturation”.
The introduction of a 32-team Club World Cup every four years has been seen as the tipping point, but the bigger issue, they say, is FIFA’s general conduct around this issue, alleging it has favoured its own commercial interests which has in turn “harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players”.
League sources point to Manchester City’s recent request to postpone domestic matches at the start of next season in order to allow more recovery time after the Club World Cup as a prime example of how this new competition will impact on the schedule and quality of their own. The Premier League can point to the fact that it has been a 20-team competition for almost 30 years, and that fixture congestion in the club game is the result of expansion at the international level by UEFA and now FIFA.
FIFA insists the calendar announced at its 2023 Congress in Rwanda was the result of extensive consultation, and that it is fully within its rights to set the parameters of its own competitions like the Club World Cup provided they fit within the agreed calendar framework.
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