Europe’s leading players have been told they should not threaten strike action as an answer to their concerns about a congested calendar.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri said last month players were ‘close’ to going on strike. His comments have been supported by colleagues across Europe. Real Madrid pair Dani Carvajal and Thibaut Courtois have also said the demands being placed on them is too much.
City and Real are two of the 12 European clubs who will feature in next summer’s expanded Club World Cup in the United States, which will not finish until 13 July.
Although City have not lodged a formal request, manager Pep Guardiola said last Friday the Premier League had already told them they would not be granted a delay to the start of the 2025-26 campaign, which could start just four weeks later.
With the Champions League and Europa League expanding this season, with extra games, virtually every stakeholder accepts there is a problem.
Bayern Munich are also in the Club World Cup but the German giants’ chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen does not feel the players are looking at the issue in the right way.
“It is not right to threaten us with a strike from people who are on the top in terms of income,” he said at the European Clubs’ Association General Assembly in Athens. “There are a lot of other guys who don’t speak about that.
“If we have a team like us, with 16 or 18 national team players, who travel all over the globe to different national team competitions, that means a lot of serious things on the travel time they need. For them it is definitely hard to do the work and we have to take care of their welfare.”
The European Leagues and world players’ union Fifpro will next week submit their legal complaint about Fifa’s expansion of the Club World Cup to the European Commission in Brussels.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin used his speech to also criticise high profile players for using their platform to make an argument that he says only applies to a small minority of professional players globally.
“We must recognise the match calendar has reached full capacity,” said Ceferin. “Limits have been reached.
“At the same time the impact is very different among clubs and players. Some are over-burdened. The others have spare capacity.
“In fairness to those who are stretched, I stand by what I said two months ago, there is no room for additional matches. But I have to add this, who is complaining? The ones who have the highest salaries and the ones [clubs] with 25 top players. The ones with lower salaries and hardly 11 players are not complaining. They love to play.”
Paris St-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi combines his club role with being chairman of the ECA.
PSG will play at the Club World Cup and Al-Khelaifi said he had taken calls from some clubs disappointed at the two per country limit put on the event by Fifa.
“The players and clubs who are complaining – don’t play,” he said. “I receive complaints about the fact only two clubs are participating from each country. Some want more than two. On the other side they are complaining. You cannot win.
“The calendar has always been an issue. It needs to be solved with all the stakeholders sitting together in an open and transparent way, to see what the best thing is for everybody, not just one set.
“Clubs are financing the ecosystem and salaries are going higher and higher. If we have the same competitions and the same revenues, that is an issue.”
