{"id":23397,"date":"2025-07-25T16:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/23397\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T16:04:09","slug":"soccer-players-union-hits-back-at-autocratic-fifa-and-infantino-in-fallout-from-club-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/23397\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer players&#8217; union hits back at &#8216;autocratic&#8217; FIFA and Infantino in fallout from Club World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The global soccer players\u2019 union hit back at FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino on Friday, saying their autocratic style of leadership was harming the rights of its members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFootball needs responsible leadership, not emperors,\u201d the FIFPRO network said after a meeting of 58 national player unions responded to FIFA pursuing its agenda with unofficial player representatives.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt needs fewer autocratic monologues and more genuine, inclusive and transparent dialogue,\u201d the union added.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/soccer-fifa-players-welfare-99c26cd2228c564efc64f5e0138f9758\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:announced two weeks ago;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">announced two weeks ago<\/a> it reached a consensus on key issues after Infantino hosted a group of mostly non-recognized officials in New York ahead of the Club World Cup final.<\/p>\n<p>The latest rift between soccer\u2019s governing body and its players\u2019 unions flared while the European Commission in Brussels is considering a <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fifa-european-commission-union-fifpro-leagues-26755d17d3fe610f302df72f88eac2ef\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:formal complaint against FIFA;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">formal complaint against FIFA<\/a>. It was filed by FIFPRO\u2019s European division and national leagues in Europe against FIFA&#8217;s style of governance and decision-making.<\/p>\n<p>FIFPRO said FIFA&#8217;s core agenda included an overloaded global match calendar with too many games for elite players, lack of physical and mental recovery periods and extreme playing conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Players at the month-long Club World Cup in the United States <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/club-world-cup-final-chelsea-psg-2a199e3eb78821929daea91395e0b45c\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:reported feeling dizzy and unwell;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">reported feeling dizzy and unwell<\/a> in the heat of daytime games played to appeal to worldwide TV audiences.<\/p>\n<p>The 63-game tournament backed by Saudi Arabian money was lucrative for clubs, especially in Europe, though FIFA added it to the schedule without formally consulting players.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament, FIFPRO said, was \u201ccelebrated by President Infantino despite being held under conditions that were extreme and inappropriate for any human being, demonstrating a troubling insensitivity to human rights, even when it concerns elite athletes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIFPRO reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to protecting the rights of men and women players \u2014 rights which are being seriously undermined by commercial policies imposed by its autocratic system of governance,\u201d the Netherlands-based union said of FIFA.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a model that puts the health of players at risk and sidelines those at the heart of the game,\u201d FIFPRO said, adding it was \u201cunacceptable for an organization that claims global leadership to turn a blind eye to the basic needs of the players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FIFA was approached for comment.<\/p>\n<p>FIFPRO has not had a formal working agreement with FIFA since the previous one expired in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP soccer: <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The global soccer players\u2019 union hit back at FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino on Friday, saying their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[19201,49,48,19203,3274,19204,19200,19202,561,8740,82],"class_list":["post-23397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-autocratic-style","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-elite-players","tag-fifa","tag-fifpro","tag-gianni-infantino","tag-responsible-leadership","tag-soccer","tag-soccer-players","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}