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11 months ago
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The Premier League have lodged a formal complaint to FIFA over their failure to consult with leagues and clubs over the expanded 32-team Club World Cup.
Mail Sport revealed the schedule for the new tournament on Saturday, which will see Manchester City and Chelsea play up to seven matches in four weeks in the summer of 2025, with the final taking place just three weeks before the start of the following domestic season.
The Premier League are understood to have signed a letter of complaint sent to FIFA by the World Leagues Forum, a lobby group which represents 44 of the top domestic leagues in the world including La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga.
The strongly-worded letter is believed to accuse FIFA of failing to exercise their responsibilities as the world's governing body and to claim that they prioritise their own interests instead by scheduling more matches to generate ever-greater revenue.
The commercial value of the expanded Club World Cup is unclear at present as broadcast rights and sponsorship deals have yet to sold, but with many of the world's top clubs including City, Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain and Bayern Munich already qualified it is sure to generate several billion pounds.
The Premier League have lodged a formal complaint with FIFA over the expanded Club World Cup (FIFA head Gianni Infantino pictured)
Champions League winners Manchester City will compete in the new 32-team tournament
The 2021 winners Chelsea are the second English team that could play an extra seven matches
FIFA are working towards committing to a prize fund alone of £2billion, with all the clubs taking part to be paid £50m and the winners receiving over £100m.
In their letter the World League's Forum claim that FIFA are ignoring the best interests of the clubs by overloading the calendar and putting the players' health at risk.
PFA chief executive Maheta Molango made a similar point on Sunday by saying the players were being used as pawns and describing the Club World Cup as ridiculous.
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Pep Guardiola's side arrived in Saudi on Monday morning to compete is this season's iteration
PFA CEO Maheta Molango (right) has described players as 'pawns' between governing bodies
'Players have become pawns in a battle for primacy between football's governing bodies, with no one willing to take a step back or to work collaboratively to create a sustainable calendar,' Molango said.
'These decisions have consequences - not just for players who are being pushed until they break, but for the future quality of these tournaments, with players becoming injured or withdrawing from games as they make their own decisions about how to manage what have become ridiculous demands.'
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