Footballers close to going on strike over ‘nonsensical' playing calendar

New York Times

15 hours ago

Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) chief executive Maheta Molango believes players are closer to going on strike over the 'nonsensical' playing calendar than ever before in his time in charge of the players' union.
Speaking at the PFA's pre-season camp for out-of-contract players on Wednesday, Molango said players at the Club World Cup this summer 'will be struggling to know which season they are in' and suggested that the coming campaign could be the breaking-point in terms of fatigue, injuries and loss-of-form.
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'It's almost as if the lines are blurred between seasons — this is our problem,' said Molango, who became PFA boss in 2021.
'We're not trying to single out a specific competition. It's this feeling of accumulation of competitions that just do not talk to each other and create a calendar that's just nonsensical.
'We always said that this season would be one that would give us tangible examples. Because sometimes you can talk about stuff but when people are in the middle of it, then they really realise what it means.
'I think (Manchester City head coach) Pep Guardiola said the other day, and we agree, let's see what happens in October, November — that's when you're going to start seeing (the impact), because you pay the price.'
Unlike North America's traditional 'Big Four' sports, European football has not experienced many industrial disputes. There were short strikes in Italy and Spain in 2011 but English players have not even threatened to strike since the PFA organised a successful campaign for the abolition of the maximum wage in 1961.
Molango, however, pointed out that more and more players have been talking about the effect of too many games, too much travel, not enough rest and no breaks between seasons. He has also played a central role in launching two legal challenges against world football's governing body FIFA — one through the Belgian courts and one via the European Commission — for what global players' unions claim is a failure to consult on the calendar.
And the Swiss-born Italian, who played professionally in England, Germany and Spain before becoming a leading sports lawyer, said the crowded international calendar is not just a problem for the world's best players, as the need to find room for more FIFA and UEFA club football has already seen FA Cup replays scrapped and now there is pressure on English football to drop its second cup competition and reduce the Premier League to 18 teams.
He also pointed out that there is a finite amount of broadcast and commercial money out there and companies are reassessing where best to allocate it.
'The TV money pot is what it is — it's not getting any bigger,' he said. 'A new competition means a new guest trying to eat into that pie, so what goes to that competition may not go to another.
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'And people who come from the French market know this very tangibly. The broadcasters only have €500million (£430m) to spend. Do I spend on Champions League? Do I spend on the French League?
'They go for the premium competition or what they perceive as being premium. This is not speculation. This is what is happening right now, just across The Channel.'
When asked specifically about the risk of a strike, he said: 'It comes to a stage when you expect the authorities to look after you, and they don't look after you, then you need to take your own measures to protect yourself.
'When you go to those pre-season meetings with other stakeholders, you can see the tension. I've been doing that now for four years and the tension has been escalating because people are saying 'this is my career and this may become shorter – that's my problem, not the problem of other people who put together these competitions'.
'It's very tangible that people are worried about that.'
Molango also backed this week's calls from global players' union FIFPro to avoid playing any games at next summer's World Cup during the hottest parts of the day at many of the chosen venues in Mexico and the U.S..
'We've reached a stage where it's no longer a question of what the players feel, it's damaging the actual product,' he said.
'I've been to games held at 4pm in Philadelphia — it was unbearable for me as a fan, let alone for people on the pitch, and the quality of what we saw was just not good.
'There's no way you can have a good game if you play at 4pm in Mexico. It's impossible, because the players say to you 'I need to manage my efforts', which means what you see on the pitch is not good (and) the audiences drop.
'It's as simple as that. It's not good for us as an industry. We're devaluating the product.
'And it's a shame, because if I'm a U.S. fan and that's my first exposure to soccer, that's not good. We need to be mindful that we're competing with other sports.'
(Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)