July 15 – In an unprecedented attack, world players’ union Fifpro claims the rosy picture painted by FIFA President Gianni Infantino of the Club World Cup is “a fiction.”
On the sidelines of the tournament, FIFA froze the union out of a meeting about player welfare, prompting a furious reaction from the body that is mandated to protect the interests of players. Fifpro president Sergio Marchi even compared Infantino to Roman emperor Nero, who famously “fiddled while Rome burned”.
In a statement, Marchi said: “FIFPRO cannot fail to point out, with absolute clarity, that this competition hides a dangerous disconnection with the true reality that most footballers around the world are going through.
“What was presented as a global festival of football was nothing more than a fiction staged by FIFA, driven by its president, without dialogue, without sensitivity and without respect for those who sustain the game with their daily efforts. A grandiloquent staging that inevitably recalls the ‘bread and circuses’ of Nero’s Rome, entertainment for the masses while behind the curtain the inequality, precariousness and lack of protection of the real protagonists deepens.”
Nero was known for staging great spectacles, but also for his brutality. He was in part held responsible for the burning of Rome and declared a public enemy. Nero fled the city and killed himself.
Infantino declared his own spectacle “the most successful Club World Cup competition.” He said: “The golden era of global club football has started.”
Last year, Fifpro and other stakeholders launched a complaint against FIFA over the international match calendar and the Club World Cup at the European Commission. At the weekend, the world governing body claimed there was a “consensus” with player unions for a minimum window of 72 hours of rest between matches and that players should have a rest period of at least 21 days at the end of the season, a smaller window than Fifpro had asked for. Fifpro, however, were not a part of the meeting.
It comes after a tournament mired in controversy over the calendar, the growing inequality in the club game, the Saudi influence and FIFA’s unilateralism. The Club World Cup culminated in the ‘Trumpification’ of the world governing body after FIFA opened an office at Trump Tower and Donald Trump, the US President, hijacked Chelsea’s celebrations.
The heat was another major concern during the tournament, with teams and players often subjected to oppressive temperatures in a match schedule designed to accommodate European TV audiences. In June, in the US, temperatures sometimes topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Marchi said: “The tournament also took place under unacceptable conditions, with matches being played in extremely hot weather and at temperatures that put the physical integrity of the players at risk. This situation must not only be denounced, but must also be strongly condemned. Under no circumstances must this happen again at next year’s FIFA World Cup.
“From Fifpro we have been warning about the saturation of the calendar, the lack of physical and mental rest for the players, and the lack of dialogue on the part of FIFA. This way of organising tournaments, without listening to the federation that brings together player associations worldwide, is unilateral, authoritarian and based solely on a logic of economic profitability, not human sustainability.”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1752739135labto1752739135ofdlr1752739135owedi1752739135sni@i1752739135tnuk.1752739135ardni1752739135mas1752739135