A players’ strike would be welcome if it served to wipe Fifa’s Club World Cup out of existence, the president of the Spanish league has said.
The Manchester City midfielder Rodri on Tuesday became the latest player to speak out about the increasing workload and said a player strike was “close” if nothing changed. Players face at least an extra two matches in this season’s Champions League and the season is set to end for 12 European clubs with Fifa’s new 32-team Club World Cup in the United States. Players’ unions and domestic leagues are suing Fifa over what they claim is a lack of consultation on the scheduling of the tournament and the fixture calendar generally.
La Liga’s president, Javier Tebas, said Rodri was right to mention the possibility of a strike and that he would support it provided it was not targeted at domestic leagues but at forcing a rethink of the calendar.
Tebas said the issue was not just about workload, arguing that the expansion of international club competitions had a sporting and economic impact on domestic leagues and those playing in them.
“I think Rodri is right about a possible strike,” Tebas told Spanish media in Seville. “I think there is a backlog of matches, there are 200 players involved in that issue. But I say it for the remaining 40,000 professional players and 2,000 remaining clubs.
“If this strike serves to solve the issue of the calendars, but not to remove clubs from the national leagues but so that the Club World Cup does not exist, so that the dates are better restructured, then it is welcome because something has to happen.
“We will take the appropriate legal action, but if the players’ union decides to go on strike for this reason, which we have already discussed with them, it is not just a problem of over-saturation of matches with 70, 80, 100 players, it is a much bigger problem, it is affecting the entire industry.
“Players who do not compete in European competitions, if they follow these criteria, will be left with less income, clubs will disappear … we are working on that and we will be supporting them, of course.”
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Fifa insists the calendar is the result of a “comprehensive and inclusive” consultation, which included the world players’ union Fifpro and league bodies. The Club World Cup has the support of Europe’s clubs, with a memorandum of understanding agreed between Fifa and the European Club Association.