FIFA Prioritizes Player Health Amid Calendar Concerns, Says Infantino

FIFA President Gianni Infantino discusses player welfare, the expanding tournament calendar, and the impact of the Club World Cup on players.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino emphasized that player health and welfare remain a top priority for the governing body amid concerns over the expanding tournament calendar. Critics, including players' union FIFPRO and European leagues, have raised concerns that the increased match load will negatively impact player well-being.

“It is a competition which takes place once every four years. The winner plays seven games, which is like one game and a half, almost, more a year, so it doesn’t have a big impact,” Infantino said, specifically addressing the new Club World Cup format. He believes the additional games won't significantly burden players, given the tournament's infrequent nature.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino: "We have to always try to use sport and football in particular to bring people and countries together."#UEFACongress pic.twitter.com/q3NygHALHI

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Infantino's comments come after FIFPRO, LaLiga, and European leagues filed a joint complaint to EU antitrust regulators, accusing FIFA of “calendar abuse.” Despite these concerns, Infantino maintains that FIFA is carefully considering player health and welfare in its scheduling decisions.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino believes the current soccer calendar balances itself out, despite concerns over the number of games played. “What happens in world soccer is that there are many games for very few teams, very few players,” he said. “Those who reach maybe the final stages of all competitions, which again is very rare... So all in all, it balances itself out quite a bit.”

Infantino emphasized FIFA's commitment to player health and welfare, saying, “But we’re very careful about the calendar and about the health of the players. I mean, we want to do everything for the players to be in the best conditions to perform in the best way...” He also noted that many players prefer to play rather than train, quoting them as saying, “what you want is to play rather than to train, right?”

A FIFA taskforce led by Arsene Wenger is currently analyzing the impact of the Club World Cup on player welfare. Infantino highlighted the importance of this assessment in informing FIFA's decisions on the tournament's format and scheduling.