The international match calendar is now oversaturated and puts the players’ welfare at risk, national football bodies say.
Representatives of European football leagues and players are filing a legal complaint with the EU Commission to challenge FIFA’s allegedly “unsustainable” football calendar.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, European Leagues and FIFPRO Europe argue that FIFA infringes EU competition law and that its actions are “an abuse of dominance”.
“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,” the statement said.
“The international match calendar is now beyond saturation and has become unsustainable for national leagues and a risk for the health of players.”
World Cup expansion to blame?
The battle between football leagues and FIFA escalated in recent years, after the world governing body of football’s decisions to expand the FIFA World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2026, and to introduce a 32-team version of the Club World Cup in 2025 from the previous seven teams.
The statement said national leagues and player unions were consistently excluded from the decision-making process despite their opposition to the new calendar.
The complaint, which will be formally filed by European Leagues, La Liga, and FIFPRO Europe, will run in parallel with separate actions initiated by individual leagues and player unions at the national level.
English, French and Italian player unions have previously brought an action with the Brussels commercial court in June.
It also follows a December European Court of Justice ruling that found FIFA and UEFA abused their dominant position as regulators and competition organisers in a case brought by storied clubs that tried to launch a breakaway Super League in 2021.
FIFA slams the move as ‘hypocritical’
FIFA’s reaction came shortly afterwards on Tuesday.
“The current calendar was unanimously approved” by multiple entities, the world football governing body said in a post on X, “following a comprehensive and inclusive consultation, which included FIFPRO and league bodies.”
“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,” it said.
“Those leagues apparently prefer a calendar filled with friendlies and summer tours, often involving extensive global travel.”
The European Commission in Brussels is the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union and can intervene in alleged breaches of competition law.
FIFA manages the international games and tournaments calendar, which mandates when clubs must release their players called up for national teams.
Top-tier leagues, which shut down their weekend programs for national team fixtures, have long claimed they were not fully consulted on the latest version, which runs until 2030.
Euronews has contacted the European Commission for comment.
