One competition too many. The National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP) directly attacked Gianni Infantino and FIFA in a press release issued regarding the Club World CupA tournament that extends an already trying season, a year before the “real” World Cup.
« From the height of his ivory tower, the FIFA president is not bothered by the fate that the international calendar reserves for the game's leading players, while "his" Club World Cup proves, to the point of absurdity, that he is urgent to stop this massacre game, denounces the French union. He tramples on the physical and mental health of players for a few more dollars, while mocking, worse, while ignoring the collective agreements – The Charter, in France – which, almost everywhere, provide for an incompressible period of three weeks of rest for footballers between two sports seasons. »
« The UNFP, like FIFPRO and FIFPRO Europe, has been speaking out for years against the drastic increase in workloads, but also against the harmful repercussions for domestic football of a calendar that FIFA is still alone in building today. (…) Why would we want the boss of world football to come and worry about the disorders that his new madness engenders at the national level? He doesn't care that Paris Saint-Germain (played) its 62nd match of the season on Sunday ", while several Ligue 1 clubs have already resumed training to prepare for 2025-2026. This Club World Cup, played in harsh weather conditions in the United States, will end on July 13.
