After months of media litigation and not quite so subtle legal threats, it was confirmed on Monday afternoon that the top European League in conjunction with players’ union Fifpro had now followed through on their threat to file papers against Fifa for what they have claimed is an ‘abuse of dominance’ by world football’s governing body.
As fans will know this has been rumbling on in the background for a number of months now and centres around the ever growing fixture calendar that the more successful clubs in the European game have to contend with. Not only have we seen commentary on this from leagues and managers directly, in more recent weeks we have also see some players, like Manchester City midfielder Rhodri, openly speak to the media with their own concerns and complaints. For those who like to dabble with football betting, the odds suggested it really was only a matter of time before the threats were made official.
The European League represent 39 divisions, including the Premier League, and total 1,130 clubs across 33 countries, and alongside the European arm of Fifpro, they are claiming that Fifa has abused its position and role under European competition law as it pertains to the international fixture list.
The Spanish La Liga is not a member of this group, but there were extended an invite for the purposes of this action, and they duly accepted and will feature in the complaint to the European Commission. Fifpro described the decision to file as ‘unprecedented’ but it should be noted that this is the latest legal action undertaken on the topic, the Professional Footballers’ Association joined their French counterparts to file a claim at the Brussels court of commerce back in June about Fifa’s remit to unilaterally set the match calendar, and the decision to create and schedule the expanded Club World Cup in 2025.
That action centred more on the inability of players to now enjoy a ‘meaningful’ break between seasons, whereas this new action accuses Fifa in recent years of “…repeatedly favoured its own competitions and commercial interests, neglected its responsibilities as a governing body, and harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players”.
The vast majority of fans will undoubtedly be thoroughly disinterested in this development as it only effects a small number of clubs, who predominantly receive the greatest revenue, hold the most expensive and talented squads, and often have no compunction about flying thousands of miles for lucrative friendlies at every available opportunity.
With that said, even uninvolved neutral fans would have a hard time arguing against the saturation of the overall football calendar now. Every major European competition has been expanded, the international calendar is ridiculous with the Nations League and pointless friendlies, and slowly and surely it is chipping away at the domestic game and fans have been long forgotten in the search for even greater bundles of cash.
Problem is, Fifa are not the only ones involved in that race for cash, those complaining could also look a little bit closer to home.
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