FIFA accuses players' union FIFPro of ‘blackmail' and lack of financial transparency
On Thursday, Sergio Marchi, the new FIFPro president, told The Athletic in an exclusive interview that 'the autocracy of FIFA's president (Gianni Infantino)' was the 'biggest obstacle' to his union.
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Following a meeting with 58 player unions in the Netherlands on Friday, FIFPro doubled down on those criticisms, releasing a statement accusing FIFA of 'seriously undermining' players' rights with its 'autocratic system of governance'.
Football's world governing body responded with its own statement on Friday evening, arguing the players' union had 'chosen to pursue a path of public confrontation driven by artificial PR battles' which, rather than protecting player welfare, 'aim to preserve their own personal positions and interests'.
The accusations mark a dramatic deterioration in relations between FIFA and FIFPro, who have clashed over issues such as player welfare and the football calendar. Earlier this month, FIFPro was not invited to the meeting where FIFA said a consensus over the need for defined rest periods for players was reached.
'As FIFPRO is interested in addressing matters such as good governance, maybe they would want to consider publishing their own statutes and releasing transparent annual accounts, to ensure that what is being preached is also being practiced,' a FIFA statement read. 'Let us be clear: you cannot preach transparency while operating in opacity.
'FIFA invites FIFPRO to return to the negotiating table, once they have stopped their blackmail and withdrawn their complaints, and once they have published their statutes, their full financial reports (including all their sources of income, the detailed intellectual property rights of the players they claim to own, and the funding one of their regional divisions receives from some football organisations), and the full list of individual members they claim to represent.'
FIFPro's accounts are published on KVK, the Dutch public registrar for companies.
FIFA pointed to the rest period measures brought in after its meeting in New York on the eve of the Club World Cup final as proof that it was acting on concerns over player workload.
It has stated that there must be at least 72 hours of rest between matches, and that players should have a rest period of at least 21 days at the end of each season. FIFPro, which has pressured FIFA to address the issue for many years, has been calling for 28 days of rest.
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FIFA claims that the New York meeting took place following a 'protracted period of unsuccessful efforts to bring FIFPRO to the table in an environment of non-hostility and respectful, progressive dialogue'.
The Athletic reported sources with knowledge of the matter indicated that FIFPro was not invited to the meeting and those who were do not represent FIFPro in any capacity. While some in attendance were previously part of FIFPro they have since lost their positions, others, The Athletic has been told, are not recognised by FIFPro.
'The overloaded match calendar, the lack of adequate physical and mental recovery periods, extreme playing conditions, the absence of meaningful dialogue, and the ongoing disregard for players' social rights have regrettably become pillars of FIFA's business model,' a FIFPro statement read. 'This is a model that puts the health of players at risk and sidelines those at the heart of the game.'
The union argued the recent Club World Cup, an expanded 32-team tournament in the United States, where a number of games faced delays due to heat and thunder storms, was 'held under conditions that were extreme and inappropriate for any human being'.
FIFA called FIFPro's response to the recommendations — which included the union's president Sergio Marchi referring to his FIFA counterpart Infantino as 'the man who thinks he is God' — 'a series of personal and disrespectful attacks'.
'Instead of contributing meaningfully, they have opted for theatrical denunciations, prioritising media headlines over measurable progress for the players they claim to represent,' FIFA's statement continued.
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