Premier League chief Richard Masters warns fixture congestion will 'reach saturation point'

Football will reach saturation point if more and more matches are added to the calendar, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has said.

The league is part of a legal challenge against FIFA alongside other domestic competitions in Europe and player unions, who argue the game's global governing body has not consulted with them in any meaningful way on the sport’s calendar.

The player welfare risk has been highlighted at length but Masters also believes too much football risks turning people off.

"It’s a really difficult thing to predict when saturation takes hold," he said.

"Obviously, we have lots of football. The Premier League is part of it. It’s part of the picture, our clubs participate in multiple competitions, and we’re adding to that calendar, so it should be a concern.

"I think that we will reach a point of saturation, yes."

He insisted the legal action was not solely about FIFA’s Club World Cup itself, more about the impact its scheduling could have on existing competitions.

"If our clubs get to the final of those competitions, what sort of teams are they going to be able to field at the start of the Premier League season when we have an obligation to the players to give them three weeks’ rest, which they won’t get?" Masters said.

"In the end, it doesn’t add up, so a new accommodation has to be reached. The Club World Cup is a relevant competition that should be able to develop in its own way, but not at the expense of other people’s competitions."

FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom appeared to pinpoint hypocrisy on the part of leagues – including the Premier League – in launching the legal action against FIFA’s new competition while launching initiatives of its own such as the Summer Series in the United