European leagues oppose FIFA plan for 48-team 2022 World Cup

Top European leagues are set to oppose FIFA plans for adding more teams and playing days at the 2022 World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino wants to study a 48-team tournament plan that would add 16 teams, 16 extra games and at least four days to the scheduled 28-day event kicking off in November 2022 in Qatar.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, talks with Alejandro Dominguez, right, president of the South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL, during their annual conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 12, 2018. CONMEBOL has asked FIFA to expand the World Cup to 48 teams for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. (AP Photo/Martin Ruggiero)

That schedule would likely take another round of weekend fixtures from the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga and others which already must shut down in mid-season.

"We are not prepared to make any changes on the calendar for expanding the 2022 World Cup." Lars-Christer Olsson, CEO of the 32-member European Leagues group, said on Monday.

"We have already been flexible to allow the World Cup to be played in the (Qatari) winter and have agreed the dates," Olsson said, adding "we are not prepared for the duration of the World Cup to be any longer."

Infantino's support last week for a 48-team World Cup ahead of the agreed expansion for the 2026 edition comes more than seven years after Qatar won hosting rights from FIFA's then-executive committee.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino participates in the annual conference of the South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, April 12, 2018. The governing body of South American soccer has asked FIFA to expand the World Cup to 48 teams for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. (AP Photo/Martin Ruggiero)

Qatar bid to stage a 32-team, 64-game tournament in June-July 2022 despite the searing desert heat, with a pledge to develop stadium cooling technology.

In 2013, FIFA started consulting soccer officials worldwide in an 18-month process that reached an expected conclusion — to push back the schedule and play in cooler months, with a Nov. 21-Dec. 18 schedule.

That shorter, 28-day program — instead of the typical 32-day tournament — was a concession to Europe where most World Cup players are employed, and leagues wanted the shortest possible forced shutdown.

FIFA's calendar for national-team games, which mandates when clubs must release players, has a Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 call-up date for World Cup teams.

An extra four days on the 2022 World Cup program would likely mean moving up the World Cup program, and taking the Nov. 12-13 fixture dates away from European leagues.

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, right, duels for the ball against Valencia's Geoffrey Kondogbia during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between FC Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

"FIFA seems to be on an expansion drive," said Olsson, who this year joined UEFA's executive committee to represent the leagues. "It's time people thought about the players — they need time to rest. It cannot just be money deciding how football should be organized."

European clubs were the most vocal opponents of a November-December tournament before FIFA agreed on the switch to winter three years ago.

Soon after the accord, FIFA and the European Club Association representing more than 200 members signed a new working deal which guaranteed clubs worldwide a $209 million share of World Cup revenues from each of the 2018 tournament in Russia and the 2022 edition in Qatar.

Manchester City's Raheem Sterling, second from right, celebrates with team mates after scoring his sides third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Wembley stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

The money is distributed on a daily rate for players involved in the tournament to each club which employed him during the two previous years.

The ECA declined to comment last week when the 2022 World Cup expansion idea was announced on Thursday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at a meeting of South American soccer body CONMEBOL which was attended by Infantino.

FIFA does not pay a share of World Cup revenues to the European Leagues group.

The 2022 expansion plan could require Qatar to share hosting duties with some regional neighbors.

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola covers a video camera with his hand as he leaves the field at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at Wembley stadium in London, England, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Manchester City won 3-1. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

The gas-rich emirate is completing eight stadiums for a 64-game tournament, though FIFA's ideal design for a 48-team, 80-game tournament calls for 12 venues.

Infantino's suggested feasibility study to look at 2022 tournament expansion could be agreed on at scheduled meetings in Moscow ahead of the World Cup kicking off on June 14.

GENEVA (AP) — Leaders of top European soccer leagues say they have no plans to take games to the United States, though acknowledged that could change pending a lawsuit in Manhattan.

FIFA has shifted its long-time policy of blocking domestic league games being played on the territory of another member federation by withdrawing this month from an antitrust suit filed by U.S. promoter Relevent Sports. The suit is also against the U.S. Soccer Federation.

If league games could be organized abroad, European leagues and clubs — especially in England and Spain — could expect offers from the United States, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

“It’s not part of our current plans, it really isn’t,” English Premier League CEO Richard Masters said on Friday at a news conference after the 34-nation European Leagues group met in London.

Still, Masters said uncertainty over the court case meant “no one quite knows exactly what is happening but the door looks ajar potentially in America, at any rate, for matches abroad.”

European Leagues managing director Jacco Swart said taking games abroad was “definitely not on the agenda” of the group yet.

“I’m not saying never but currently it’s not a point on our agenda,” said Swart, a former executive at the Netherlands league, who noted U.S. sports leagues routinely schedule games in London and other European cities.

FIFA forcefully blocked a 2018 plan by Spain’s La Liga to take a game involving Barcelona, then still with Lionel Messi in the team, and Girona to Miami where Messi now plays.

The FIFA policy is less clear now, and Masters lamented how Europe’s leagues had poor relations with the Zurich-based organization.

There was no “meaningful dialogue” with FIFA, Masters said, while UEFA gave a seat on its decision-making executive committee to the leagues group.

“There is a chasm really between the style of consultation with leagues between UEFA and FIFA, where there is none,” the Premier League official said.

FIFA’s first monthlong Club World Cup will kick off in June next year, with 12 European clubs among the 32 teams playing in the United States. Real Madrid and Manchester City qualified to be in it, but American-owned Manchester United and Barcelona did not.

Tens of millions of dollars in prize money paid by FIFA risks further widening wealth gaps among European clubs, and adds up to seven more games on player workload for teams that reach the final.

The 2024-25 season will add more congestion to the calendar. The Champions League and second-tier Europa League expand with four extra teams, for a total of 36, playing eight games instead of six before the knockout rounds. Those games block two new midweek slots in January.

Swart said pressure on players and the soccer calendar was coming from international games, not domestic ones.

“It’s getting to a tipping point,” Masters said, warning about “players’ ability to perform at their best in competitions they want to play in.”

The 20-team, August-to-May format of the Premier League has stayed the same since 1995. Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A also have 20 teams each playing 38 games. Germany's Bundesliga has 18 teams.

“What has changed over the last few decades,” Masters said, “is the march, really, of international and regional football competitions.”

The European Leagues groups wants a formal working agreement with FIFA, and on Friday called for a “more transparent, objective and non-discriminatory set of regulations to govern professional football.”

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