The footballers are suing FIFA: they will take the Club World Cup to the Court of Justice of the European Union

Fifpro attacks: "Cloged calendars, the new competition undermines workers' rights"

ROMA – The players against Fifa< /a>. This time for real. The general players’ union, Fifpro, announced that the European member unions have filed a legal complaint, contesting “the legitimacy of FIFA’s decisions to unilaterally establish the International Match Calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and program the FIFA Club World Cup 2025”.

“The players’ unions – read the Fifpro note – they believe that these decisions violate the rights of the players and their unions guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and potentially also violate EU competition law. [The unions] ask the Trade Court in Brussels to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with four questions for a preliminary ruling”.

“The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU guarantees workers and their trade unions […] the prohibition of forced or compulsory labour, freedom of work, the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements, the right to working conditions healthy and the right to an annual period of paid leave”.

“The current football calendar is overloaded and unworkable. However, FIFA has not undertaken meaningful negotiations and has unilaterally continued a program of competition expansion despite opposition from players’ unions. This includes the decision to proceed with an expanded FIFA Club World Cup.”

“For the players most in demand for club matches and national team competitions, the right to a guaranteed annual break has become virtually non-existent, with the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup which is held during the only time of the year theoretically available for players to take such breaks.”

“Ultimately, the players’ unions believe that the aim of this new competition is to increase the wealth and power of football’s world governing body, without adequate consideration for the impact on the players involved or on other stakeholders. The trade unions […] ask the Brussels Commercial Court to refer this crucial issue to the Court of Justice of the European Unionthrough four questions for a preliminary ruling, the content of which can be summarized as follows: FIFA, by unilaterally and discretionally imposing an International Match Calendar and, more specifically, a new competition entitled ‘FIFA Club World Cup 2025′, violates workers’ rights.”