Unprecedented in history

According to Marca (Spain), the organizing committees of top European tournaments such as the Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga... and FIFPRO Europe, a branch of the World Footballers' Association (FIFPRO) have joined the lawsuit. FIFPRO Europe and other tournaments assert that FIFA did not fully consult on the new competition schedule before announcing it in March 2024, leading to an overloaded schedule. The culmination of this was FIFA launching the FIFA Club World Cup tournament with 32 teams, held every 4 years.

In addition to the European leagues having to change their schedules, players are also directly affected by playing too much. A series of stars such as Rodri, De Bruyne (Man City), goalkeeper Alisson (Liverpool), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) and most recently Lamine Yamal (Barca) have to sit out due to injury. At the end of September 2024, many players also announced that they were ready to strike against FIFA. All used the same phrase to complain: "We are exhausted".

FIFPRO Europe uses players' comments to denounce FIFA

The plaintiffs state: “The complaint alleges that FIFA has abused its dominance by imposing decisions on the international match calendar in violation of EU law. FIFA should carry out its functions in a transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate manner to neutralize its conflicts of interest. We therefore consider that bringing this case before the European Commission is necessary to protect the European football industry.”

Notably, this is the first time in history that the players have expressed their frustration by officially filing a lawsuit against FIFA. Premier League CEO Richard Masters emphasized: "It's coming to a crucial stage. The feedback we've received from the players is that there are more games to play and the tournaments are constantly expanding. The players have emphasized that a strike is the last resort. At the same time, legal action could just be the beginning of a fight for the future of football."

FIFA is gradually draining the players' energy.

The Independent newspaper assessed that increasing the number of matches has helped FIFA earn a lot of profit. However, this also directly pushes players to their physical and mental limits.

The British newspaper analyzed: “FIFA is a non-profit organization but hungry for money, can not stop giving birth to tournaments. FIFA announced that it earned 5.8 billion pounds in the most recent four-year World Cup cycle: From 2019 to 2022, an increase of more than 1 billion pounds compared to the previous period despite the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, FIFA has set a staggering target of 8.4 billion pounds for the current cycle.

FIFA generates the bulk of its income from selling World Cup television rights, in addition to advertising, ticket sales, branding and licensing. However, it is hard to sympathize with an organization whose Wikipedia entry on corruption is longer than a 5,000-word article. FIFA has accused European leagues of hypocrisy, but they are the ones being unreasonable here.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino affirms FIFA is still on the right track

FIFA maintains its stance

Despite the criticism, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that FIFA's actions were reasonable and in line with the organization's mission. He shared: "FIFA organizes about 1% of the matches of the best clubs in the world . 98-99% of the matches are organized by different leagues, associations and confederations. The revenue we generate is not just in one country but in 211 countries around the world. No other organization does that and we still maintain our position."

At the same time, the head of FIFA also spoke about the complaints about the competition schedule: "Currently, the FIFA Council unanimously approved. The FIFA calendar is the only tool to ensure that international football can continue to exist and prosper."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/fifa-chinh-thuc-bi-kien-vi-lam-dung-quyen-luc-dieu-chua-tung-co-trong-lich-su-185241015005654323.htm