BRUSSELS: European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe will jointly file a complaint to EU antitrust regulators against FIFA’s international match calendar, the sports organisation and players union said on Tuesday, intensifying the spat with world football’s governing body.

The move by the two bodies followed legal action by the English, French and Italian player unions against FIFA on the same issue in a Brussels commercial court last month.

The complaint to the European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, will be filed in the coming weeks, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe said the international match calendar is now beyond saturation and has become unsustainable for national leagues as well as a risk for the health of players.

FIFA said the current calendar was unanimously approved by the FIFA Council following a comprehensive consultation, which included FIFPRO and league bodies.

“FIFA’s calendar is the only instrument ensuring that international football can continue to survive, co-exist, and prosper alongside domestic and continental club football,” a FIFA spokesperson said.

“Some leagues in Europe — themselves competition organisers 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.”

European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe also alleged that FIFA’s decisions over the last years have repeatedly favoured its own competitions and commercial interest and neglected its responsibilities as a governing body.

“The complaint will explain that FIFA’s conduct infringes EU competition law and notably constitutes an abuse of dominance: FIFA holds a dual role as both the global regulator of football and a competition organiser. This creates a conflict of interest,” they said.

FIFA has been accused of a failure to consult over recent changes to the calendar, such as the introduction of a 32-team Club World Cup.

The first edition of the expanded Club World Cup is set to take place in the United States in June and July next year and 12 European clubs are due to feature.

Many of the continent’s leading players will therefore be obliged to participate at a time when they would otherwise have been afforded a long close-season break, a year ahead of the expanded 48-team World Cup in North America.

Last year, FIFA announced that the 2026 World Cup will have 104 matches instead of the traditional 64 games due to the expanded format.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2024