Richard Masters and Javier Tebas could stop Man City playing in Club World Cup amid boycott threat

Manchester City are due to defend their Club World Cup crown next summer in an expanded version of the tournament, but a threat to boycott the tournament has emerged from the Premier League and La Liga.

The issue of player welfare and overplaying is a prominent one right now, with Pep Guardiola and his City players regularly complaining that they are asked to play too many games. As it stands, they have just finished a long season, most players will be involved in international tournaments over the summer, before a quick turnaround for pre-season and then the start of the 2024/25 campaign.

The Champions League will have at least two more games in it, plus a potential play-off to get into the knockout stages, while the Club World Cup will mirror the World Cup over June and July. In theory, that means City players could be playing without a meaningful break from the start of the 2023/24 season until the end of the 2025/26 season.

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Unions FIFPro and the PFA are leading a bid to get the 32-team 2025 Club World Cup postponed and rescheduled, even threatening a boycott of the tournament. According to the Sun, the boycott threat is being led by PFA chief Maheta Molango, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters and La Liga boss Javier Tebas.

The trio are said to be set for talks on Thursday at the Player Workload Conference, led by the PFA and FIFPro, over legal action that could be taken against FIFA including a boycott option. It is unclear how any boycott would practically be managed, and whether individual clubs