FIFA have swiftly released a statement after being warned over legal action relating to the extended 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
On Thursday, news broke that both the player’s union (FIFPro) and the World League’s Organisation (WLA), wrote a joint letter to the football mother body over the 2025 Club World Cup.
The two organisations claimed that the addition of the tournament is adding to an already packed football calendar “resulting in economic harm [for domestic leagues], whereas players are being pushed beyond their limits”.
A big question mark is over the new tournament set to take place in the United States, with Mamelodi Sundowns one of the four African teams set to take part.
It was further questioned why the old Club World Cup will also continue as the “Intercontinental Cup”.
FIFA, though, have downplayed the added fixture congestion due to the 32-team Club World Cup.
“The FCWC tournament dates (15 June – 13 July) have been set to ensure that the scheduling of the tournament is harmoniously aligned with the IMC [International Match Calendar] to allow sufficient time between the tournament final and the start of the season in many domestic leagues globally, and considering that a minimum of three days of rest between matches should be guaranteed in order to safeguard player welfare,” a FIFA statement said, as per AFP.
It remains to be seen whether FIFPro and WLA will now push ahead with the legal actions they warned FIFA off.
