By John T. Wendt, J.D., M.A., Professor Emeritus, Ethics and Business Law, University of St. Thomas
The Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels (FIFPRO) is the multi-national soccer players’ union. As FIFPRO states, they actively work “to ensure players have basic protections upheld across the institutions and governance mechanisms that steward the football industry. Players need, and are entitled to, the same human rights and good governance practices as any other member of society, and the same legal protections as any other employee. This includes the right to organise (sic) and to bargain collective agreements.”[1] The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the international governing body for soccer and “FIFA exists to govern football and to develop the game around the world.”[2] At times the two organizations can work harmoniously. As with other organizations, there is tension and conflict. This tension has come to the forefront as FIFA has decided to add a new 29 day, 32-club competition in the USA entitled “FIFA Club World Cup 2025” onto the end of the 2024-25 soccer season.
To illustrate how brutal the proposed soccer schedule will be, the Premier League season will conclude on May 25, 2025. Then, the UEFA Champions League Final will take place in Munich, Germany a week later on May 31, 2025. Then, there is the UEFA Nations League Final that runs from June 2 to June 10, 2025. Then finally, the newly proposed expanded FIFA Club World Cup that starts just four days later in the USA and runs from June 14 to July 13, 2025. On top of this schedule all players may also have club commitments which could include the FA Community Shield game at Wembley that showcases the winners of the Premier League and the winners of the FA Cup. And then, the Premier League starts again in mid-August.[3]
FIFPRO is now involved in litigation against FIFA. The fight may not necessarily be about the new Club World Cup 2025 itself, but rather the cumulative effect of additional matches. As FIFPRO also states, “Our work is driven by the workforce priorities of players and, along with our member unions and partners, we strive to improve a player’s working environment and overall wellbeing.”[4] With the addition of the new event there is little to no recovery time.
On June 13, 2024, the players’ unions from England, Professional Footballers Association (PFA), Italy, Associazione Italiana Calciatori (AIC) and France, Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnel (UNFP) supported by FIFPRO Europe filed a complaint in the Brussels Court of Commerce that challenged the legality of FIFA’s decision to unilaterally create and schedule the FIFA World Cup 2025. The complaint alleges that the rights of players are being violated under European laws after FIFA unilaterally added a new competition in the USA. The plaintiffs were asking for the case to be referred to the European Court of Justice.
PFA chief executive Maheta Molango said, “Everyone across football knows that the fixture calendar is broken to the point that it has now become unworkable…The most in-demand players are now part of an endless schedule of games and competitions for club and country, with their limits constantly being pushed through expansion and the creation of new competitions. I am constantly told by those members that what they want is a properly protected break where they can rest and recharge.”[5]
The English Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the Italian players’ union (AIC) and their French counterparts, the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP), are claiming that a new competition in the United States right after the end of the 2024-25 season violates the rights of players under European Union (EU) laws. The unions and players have for many years argued that the current soccer schedule is already overloaded.
The unions and players are arguing that Articles 5, 15, 28 and 31 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantee workers and trade unions various fundamental rights including the prohibition of forced or compulsory labor, freedom of work, the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements, the right to healthy working conditions and the right to an annual period of paid leave.
On July 23, 2024, the European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe announced that they would jointly file a formal complaint to the European Commission against FIFA on competition law grounds regarding the international match calendar. The complaint alleges that FIFA’s conduct constitutes an abuse of dominance.[6] On July 23, 2024, England’s Premier League and Spain’s Liga joined the complaint,[7] which was referred to the European Court of Justice asking that the Court look at four questions:
- Whether the rights guaranteed to workers and their trade unions by the EU Charter of Rights prohibit FIFA from scheduling the new Club World Cup 2025 at a time that has traditionally been an annual break and against the formal objections of player/worker unions.
- Whether FIFA’s unilateral decision infringes the rights under Article 28 of the Charter for players to collectively bargain over their terms and conditions of employment.
- Whether FIFA’s unilateral decision to implement the new Club World Cup 2025 imposing significant additional workload violates Article 28 guaranteeing the right to healthy working conditions.
- Whether FIFA’s unilateral decision regarding the Calendar and the new Club World Cup 2025 is a “restriction of competition” pursuant to article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.[8]
FIFA responded by saying that the decision to add the new Club World Cup 2025 was not decided unilaterally and FIFPRO was consulted and involved in the decision.[9] FIFA also said in a statement that, “Some leagues in Europe – themselves competition organisers (sic) and regulators – are acting with commercial self-interest, hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world. Those leagues apparently prefer a calendar filled with friendlies and summer tours, often involving extensive global travel. By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game.”[10]
On top of all this, FIFA has several problems before the 2025 Club World Cup. On September 19, 2024, FIFA president Gianni Infantino called an emergency briefing as FIFA has failed to announce a single broadcast deal for the new tournament. The Clubs who are supposed to compete have yet to be told the amounts of participation or prize money. And FIFA has not announced the sponsors, venues, training bases or even broadcasters.[11]
One of the biggest supporters of soccer in the United States is CBS Sports which paid $1.5 billion for the six-year rights to broadcast UEFA competitions, including the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, the Italian Serie A and English Football League. CBS CEO was asked about their possible coverage of the Club World Cup 2025. Berson responded by saying, “We will look at all the properties that come up. I’m not trying to avoid it, but it’s going to be on a case-by-case basis on the value of that. The reality is we now have marquee European football content almost all year long. So we have to see what the incremental value is for that period of time…So we are determining whether or not the incremental content that you’re referring to would be worthwhile and add value. But we’re thrilled with the portfolio that we have.”[12]
Hopefully both sides can come to some agreement and soon. BBC soccer reporter Nick Mashiter called the union and players’ actions as “the nuclear option. It is the red button the unions and leagues hoped not to press but they feel they have been left with no alternative.”[13] Time is of the essence as the proposed new competition is less than nine months away.
[1] Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels, FIFPRO: Football Players Worldwide, FIFPRO (2024), https://fifpro.org/en/who-we-are (last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[2] Fédération Internationale de Football Association, Inside FIFA, (2024), https://inside.fifa.com (last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[3] Professional Footballers’ Association, PFA Joins Legal Case Against FIFA, (2024), https://www.thepfa.com/news/2024/6/13/pfa-joins-legal-case-against-fifa (last visited Sep 16, 2024).
[4] Fédération Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels, supra note 1.
[5] Philip Buckingham, Player Unions Begin Legal Action against FIFA over Club World Cup Schedule, The New York Times, Jun. 13, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5560886/2024/06/13/pfa-fifpro-fifa-legal-action/ (last visited Sep 16, 2024).
[6] FIFPRO World Players’ Union, European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe to File Joint Complaint to European Commission against FIFA Regarding International Match Calendar – FIFPRO World Players’ Union, FIFPRO (2024), https://www.fifpro.org/en/who-we-are/what-we-do/foundations-of-work/european-leagues-and-fifpro-europe-to-file-joint-complaint-to-european-commission-against-fifa-regarding-international-match-calendar (last visited Sep 11, 2024).
[7] Colin Millar, Premier League Joins Legal Action over ‘beyond Saturated’ FIFA Calendar, The New York Times, Jul. 23, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5652381/2024/07/23/premier-league-legal-action-fifa-calendar/ (last visited Sep 11, 2024).
[8] FIFPRO World Players’ Union, FIFPRO Europe Statement: Legal Claim against FIFA, FIFPRO (2024), https://www.fifpro.org/en/supporting-players/health-and-performance/player-workload/fifpro-europe-statement-legal-claim-against-fifa (last visited Sep 11, 2024).
[9] Alex Donaldson, FIFPRO, European Leagues Take Legal Action against FIFA over Calendar, Sportcal (Jul. 23, 2024), https://www.sportcal.com/news/fifpro-european-leagues-take-legal-action-against-fifa-over-calendar/ (last visited Sep 11, 2024).
[10] Mark Ogden, Could Star Players Really Go on Strike over Football’s Packed Schedule?, ESPN.com (2024), https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/41339843 (last visited Sep 25, 2024).
[11] Adam Crafton, Infantino Calls Emergency Meeting with Broadcasters over Lack of FIFA Club World Cup Deal, The New York Times, Sep. 19, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5779549/2024/09/19/fifa-club-world-cup-broadcast-rights/ (last visited Sep 25, 2024).
[12] Id.
[13] Nick Mashiter, Fifa: European Leagues & Fifpro Take Legal Action over “Abuse of Dominance,” BBC Sport (2024), https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cye0148e10go (last visited Sep 11, 2024).
