PFA boss Molango hints at footballer strike if Fifa competition expansion persists
Footballers could take “radical” steps such as strike action as a result of Fifa’s expansion of the World Cup and Club World Cup, players union boss Maheta Molango has warned.
Molango added that players felt deceived by Fifa president Gianni Infantino presenting an increase in teams and games as “football uniting the world” when there are strong commercial incentives for the moves.
“What they find frustrating is they are misled in the reason why this is done but then they pay for that,” the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) CEO told a Fifpro performance summit in London.
“I think a good example for us is Cole Palmer. He would have gone four consecutive summers without a break, and now he’s injured. Of course he’s injured, but not just because in isolation the competition is playing too much; it’s the accumulation of various competitions.”
Molango added: “I think when you see that people want to treat football as a business when it suits them, and people want to follow the law when it suits them, then I think people start exploring very radical ways, which I think is never good news.”
Molango: Players have realised they are the product
Infantino intends to stand for re-election next year despite the backlash against his now-aborted plan to sell stakes in Fifa’s tournament business to outside investors.
Fifpro is demanding that Fifa consults with player unions before making any changes to the global calendar, and Molango said: “Don’t tell me it’s about ‘uniting the world’, when then you discover it was about increasing the income.”
It comes after tennis players threatened strike action unless they were given more sway in decision-making. This month they formed a Grand Slam player council designed to achieve that reform.
Fifa is not alone in expanding its inventory, with Uefa also expanding the Champions League from 32 to 36 teams and adopting a new format that ensures many more games in 2024.
Molango added: “Players have reached a point where if people don’t want to listen, they’ve discovered that they are the product. During Covid the stands were empty, but in the end, as long as the guys turned up and played, there was a product. If there’s no male or female turning up, there is no product.
“We see those people who understand what their value is, understand what they bring to the table. Sometimes they’ve not spoken up, almost out of embarrassment, thinking ‘I know that people work nine, 10, 11 hours a day, and I know that I’m a privileged guy’, [but] I want to give the best version of myself and I cannot right now.”