Leagues and players' union lodge complaint against FIFA with European Commission
FIFA has taken "unilateral decisions", "infringes EU competition law and constitutes a significant abuse of a dominant position", and FIFPro Europe and the European Leagues have lodged a complaint with the European Commission against it, they announced on Tuesday.
FIFPro is the global players' union, while European Leagues brings together more than 1,000 clubs from 33 countries on the continent.
They said in a statement that FIFA's conduct with regard to the international calendar has "harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players" and its role as regulator and organiser of competitions is a conflict of interest.
FIFA has been accused of failing to consult on recent changes to the calendar, such as the introduction of a 32-team Club World Cup, scheduled for June-July 2025 in the United States and involving 12 European teams.
Many of the continent's top players will therefore be forced to participate at a time when they would otherwise have been granted a long end-of-season break, a year before the 2026 World Cup in North America.
"The international fixture calendar is already beyond saturation and has become unsustainable for national leagues and a risk to player health," FIFPro and European Leagues said.
"FIFA's decisions in recent years have repeatedly favoured its own competitions and commercial interests, neglected its responsibilities as a governing body and harmed the economic interests of the national leagues and the welfare of the players," they added.
Unilateral decisions
"National leagues and players' unions, which represent the interests of all clubs and all players at national level, and regulate industrial relations through collectively agreed solutions, cannot accept that global regulations are decided unilaterally."
The statement refers to the European Court of Justice's Super League ruling last December, which required FIFA and other governing bodies to exercise their regulatory functions in a transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate manner.
FIFA's conduct with regard to the calendar, they allege, "falls far short of these requirements".
The complaint has also been joined by the Spanish Liga, which does not belong to the European Leagues.
It comes after the English Professional Footballers‘ Association and its French counterpart, the UNFP, launched an action in the Belgian courts in June to ultimately determine whether FIFA's actions had violated players’ rights under European Union law.
