The 2023/24 Premier League campaign certainly had plenty of twists and turns given how the title and relegation races played out, but it will undoubtedly go down in history as being the year that the PL slightly grew a pair of ‘cojones’ and finally started going after clubs for breaches of the Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Okay, we can still debate their particular targets for enforcement action, given where action has gone nowhere, but if the 2024/25 campaign is going to be known for anything, it looks increasingly likely that it will be about perceived game time and the demands placed on professional players.
I should say, not by their clubs, their increasing world wide friendly tours in the search of revenue and such things, or those managers who claim players are playing more games than ever (they aren’t on a club level, and these are often managers who have the most expensively assembled squads, but prefer to not rotate their first XI or often use substitutes). The complaints so far focus on FIFA and the ever growing international calendar.
As we ticked into August and further neared the domestic kick off, the previous general threats made by the World Leagues Association came to pass, and more formal legal action against FIFA entered the early stages. Global players union Fifpro, in conjunction with European Leagues (representing 39 leagues in 33 countries), confirmed the action had now been taken over FIFA’s ‘abuse of dominance’ in the game.
At the start of this month, FIFA finally responded to state that they were very open to discussing the future of the football calendar with the bodies expressing their anger – but they are clearly not impressed at having their position challenged.
“Fifa has reiterated an invitation to meet and discuss the calendar with World Leagues Association and Fifpro, having received no response to a letter on 10 May 2024. Fifa believes there is a more productive way forward for football than the threat of legal action and the offer to engage in dialogue remains on the table.”
Obviously, where these talks, discussions or firmer threats of legal action go from here is anyone’s guess. Given the issue is the international calendar being grown, along with the proposed 32 team Club World Cup at the end of the season, the ‘abuse of dominance’ approach is quite novel, and many in the wider world of football will naturally assume it is designed to reduce any FIFA attacks on clubs growing their own calendars.
This is going to be an interesting one to watch.