The Spanish Football League (LFP) has filed a lawsuit against FIFA to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in order to try and change the dates of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Javier Tebas, the LFP president, says he has done it “in defence of the interests of the clubs, which are contributing to the international teams”. “In moving the World Cup to the winter we will lose €65 million,” according to three independent expert reports the LFP has submitted to the CAS.
Last December, in a joint decision, the European Club Association (ECA) and the Association of European Football Leagues (EPFL) proposed a World Cup between May 5 and June 4, the dates that would interfere least with the European football calendar. However, that would fall just after Ramadan in 2022 and would coincide with the Arab festival Eid Al-Fitr. In March, FIFA announced that the World Cup in 2022 will be held between November 20 and December 18 to “avoid high temperatures in the country during the spring and summer”. That decision “changes the schedule of the European leagues and also in continental competitions,” and for this La Liga has submitted an application with the CAS.
The complaint was filed by the LFP but it was not joined by the signatures of Europe’s other major football leagues. The Premier League, Bundesliga and Serie A have all supported the initiative of Tebas “but only morally, certainly they have not dared to sign the agreements. There is still much fear of FIFA,” said the LFP president, who justified his move by saying: “using legal channels where there is a difference of opinion is what civilised people do. Nobody should be afraid to resort to a lawsuit claiming their legitimate rights, but there are still those who are afraid.”
The moral support towards the LFP is reflected in the statement of Frédéric Thiriez, president of the French Football League (LPF): “The LPF is ready to support all the legal procedures that can be performed by the leagues against FIFA. We must defend the interests of all clubs and not just those who see players go to play for national teams.” Many others in Europe think link him but only Tebas and Spain have taken the next step.
UEFA, meanwhile, has yet to come out in defence of the European leagues. Despite the public confrontations between Platini, UEFA president, and Blatter, the Frenchman is not in favour of going back. “The change is in the interests of the players and the fans.”
FIFA has responded to the demands of the LFP. Blatter showed his support for the economic compensations for clubs after the FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke fanned the flames by stating that “there will be no more compensation for the change. Why are we talking about compensation? Has it happened before? Why should we apologise to the club? We had an agreement with them, they receive part of the profits. It was 40 million dollars (€32.5 million) in 2010 and 70 million dollars (€61.6 million) in 2014.” But Blatter said after that “change will produce economic imbalanaces and there should be compensation for the clubs for that.”
One day after announcing the winter dates for the 2022 World Cup, FIFA tripled the amounts clubs received from Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, allocating 209 million dollars (nearly €200 million) between clubs in the ECA to each of the next two tournaments. That figure is three times the €70 million that was handed out from Brazil 2014.
Blatter gave in because European clubs accounted for around 80 per cent of the players who played in Brazil 2014 and in 2022 in Qatar the figure is not expected to be less.