FIFA issues robust defence of Club World Cup scheduling

FIFA has issued a forceful defence of its scheduling of the new Club World Cup amid the threat of legal action from leagues and unions.

Football’s global governing body wrote to the World Leagues Association (WLA) and FIFPRO on Friday to insist it consulted widely on the new international calendar, and also took aim at domestic leagues scheduling their own events, such as the Premier League’s Summer Series in the United States last year.

The leagues and unions had called on FIFA to reschedule the 32-team Club World Cup, due to be staged between June 13th and July 15th next year, or face legal action – effectively arguing that FIFA was abusing a dominant position as both a regulator and competition organiser and was inflicting economic harm on leagues and impacting the welfare of players.

A letter from FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom, seen by the PA news agency, says FIFA is “like any other competition organiser” and “fully within our rights to set the parameters of our competitions whilst respecting the regulatory framework in place”.

He then appeared to refer to domestic member leagues of the WLA, such as the Premier League, organising summer competitions and questioned why such moves had not faced a similar challenge.

“We are also well aware that there are other competition organisers, including those represented by the WLA, who are similarly entitled to exercise their rights in the same manner, including the ability to introduce, abolish or replace competitions, and to review their formats in a reasonable way,” he said.

“This ability has been demonstrated by the introduction of international tours by members of the WLA in recent years, by way of example.

“It would be useful for us to understand if the