Ruben Dias fires subtle five-word Man City dig amid FIFA lawsuit

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has called out the football authorities including; FIFA, the Premier League and UEFA for the upcoming season's fixture schedule.

City will be competing in a whopping five competitions this season with more fixtures set to be added to their schedule than last year. The governing bodies have looked to cut down the workload on players for the forthcoming season with the FA Cup scrapping replays and the Carabao Cup's fixtures being spread out to allow for more rest time.

However, the big blow to the schedule is FIFA's newly expanded Club World Cup competition which shall begin in June 2025. City won the final iteration of this tournament last Christmas, playing just two extra matches in Saudi Arabia.

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The new format, which starts three weeks after the end of the Premier League season, shall last a month if City reach the final again and shall represent the same amount of fixtures as a major international tournament. This has been met with widescale backlash from the Premier League and the PFA who are set to sue FIFA for the fixture congestion.

They argue that FIFA's plans 'harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players' while FIFA accused some leagues of 'hypocrisy'. Dias has become the latest player to hit out at the plans after he shared a picture of City's schedule for the new season from a team meeting.

Captioning the picture on Twitter, Dias wrote: "POV: You play for City," with a laughing face. The Blues' season begins on Saturday when they face fierce rivals Manchester United in the Community Shield.

Should they reach the final of the Club World Cup, City's