The top European leagues and players’ union Fifpro have filed a legal complaint against Fifa with the European Commission over what they claim is an “abuse of dominance” by world football’s governing body.
The European Leagues, which represents 39 leagues – including the Premier League – and 1,130 clubs across 33 countries, claim, along with the European branch of Fifpro, that Fifa has abused its role under European competition law when it comes to the international fixture calendar.
The Spanish La Liga is not a member of the European Leagues but is joining the action.
Alexander Bielefeld, director of policy at Fifpro, said the different parties “had submitted a legal complaint to the European Commission” and called it “unprecedented”.
BBC Sport looks at the case from both sides and the arguments being made.
How did we get to this?
There has been an ongoing row about the number of games players face during a season and this is the latest legal action that has been filed on the issue.
The Professional Footballers’ Association joined a legal action against Fifa in June about the “overloaded and unworkable” football calendar.
The PFA and the French players’ union filed a claim at the Brussels court of commerce “challenging the legality of Fifa’s decisions to unilaterally set the international match calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the Fifa Club World Cup 2025”.
There are scheduled to be 12 European representatives at the expanded Club World Cup, to be held in the United States from 15 June-13 July.
The tournament was confirmed by the Fifa Council in December 2022 and the PFA argues it is a “tipping point for the football calendar and the ability of players to be able to take meaningful breaks between seasons”.
Fifpro has also claimed, external “Fifa’s decisions over the last years have 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”.
What does the football calendar look like?
This season, all three European club competitions have been expanded to 36 teams. The Champions League and Europa League have eight first-phase games, compared to six in the 2023-24 campaign.
The PFA highlighted that for some of its members “the 2024-25 season is set to roll almost seamlessly into the 2025-26 season”.
The Premier League campaign finishes on 25 May, before the Champions League final on 31 May.
There will then be a window of international games from 2-10 June before the start of the extended Club World Cup.
Manchester City wanted a delay to their matches at the start of the 2025-26 season because of their involvement in the Club World Cup, but do not think the Premier League will agree to such a request.
The next World Cup then takes place in the summer of 2026, with Canada, Mexico and the United States being the co-hosts.
What do the players say?
Spain and Manchester City midfielder Rodri recently said players are close to going on strike in protest at an increase in games.
The 28-year-old featured 63 times for club and country last season as he won the Premier League and European Championship.
According to a recent Fifpro report on player workload, Rodri was included in 72 matchday squads for club and country, including pre-season friendlies, between July 2023 and July 2024 – totalling 6,107 minutes on the pitch.
Rodri played more than 550 minutes for Spain at Euro 2024, featuring in each of the seven games until coming off injured at half-time in the final on 14 July.
He returned to action on 8 September for his country in a Nations League game against Switzerland before suffering a season-ending knee injury playing for City against Arsenal on 22 September.
Switzerland and Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji has joked he may have to retire at 30 because of relentless fixture schedules, while Liverpool keeper Alisson has also complained over a perceived lack of consultation about the football calendar.
“Sometimes nobody asks the players what they think about adding more games,” said Alisson, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury.
“Maybe our opinion doesn’t matter, but everybody knows what we think about having more games.and Everybody’s tired of that.”
beyond saturation, which creates a lot of issues for domestic leagues in terms of scheduling and other domestic competitions, and an international match calendar that creates risk for players and their health.
“We’ve tried to engage with Fifa on that for years now without any positive response.”
Lorin Parys, chief executive of the Belgian Pro League, added that just when the threat of a European Super League had been averted “here comes Fifa through our backdoor whistling, yelling ‘surprise’,” in “the seeds of what could become a Super League in the future”.
“Fifa should really be fronting as a friend but it acts more like a foe. That’s something we want to change.”
