Professional football is failing to apply required safety standards and so is violating legal frameworks at both European and global level, a report published on Wednesday said.
The report by Belgian University Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) was commissioned by global football players’ union FIFPRO. It will be submitted as evidence to the joint complaint filed to European antitrust regulators against FIFA by FIFPRO Europe, European Leagues and LaLiga.
Elite leagues accused football’s world governing body of abuse over the impact of the expanding calendar on player wellbeing, including decisions around the expanded FIFA Club World Cup next year.
“It is sometimes striking that indeed, in the world of sports in general, employment and labour standards are sometimes overlooked,” Frank Hendrickx, director of the Institute for Labour Law at KU Leuven, said on a video call on Wednesday. “From a labour law perspective, it’s the most logical conclusion to say professional football players are workers, and labour and employment standards nationally, internationally have to be applied.”
FIFPRO argues that demands such as number of matches, international travel, late night travel and sleep disruption, as well as the extensive demands during tournaments, are not taken into account when competition schedules and formats are drawn up.
“The report confirms that Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards, as defined by European and international frameworks, are fully applicable to the professional football industry,” Hendrickx said.
The joint complaint against FIFA, filed in Brussels on Oct. 14, claimed FIFA’s imposition of decisions on the international calendar is an abuse of dominance and violates European Union law.
“FIFA is not only failing to protect players’ health and safety, but FIFA is also actively making it impossible to comply with these (health and safety) principles,” Alfonso Lamadrid, a lawyer with Garrigues and expert in EU competition law, said. “So there’s an element of active threat. The way FIFA has set up the calendar makes it impossible to comply with collective bargaining agreements, for example, so that is relevant to our case.”
Reuters has contacted FIFA for comment.
The research looked at the job demands and resources in the professional game, particularly the stressors of a high-risk work environment, and examined the legal obligations around health and safety standards.
The upcoming Club World Cup is one of the biggest bones of contention. It has increased from seven to 32 clubs and leaves little time off for players between their league seasons.
“Fatigue is quite commonly reported within professional football, not only looking at the physical fatigue, but also mental fatigue, and we clearly can state that the incidence rate [of injuries] is much higher in the football industry compared to other industries,” Lode Godderis, an expert in occupation health and safety and professor at KU Leuven, said.
“The main determinants are the load in the calendar, but also the variation in trainings and match loads.”
Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO’s director of policy and strategic relations for men’s football, said more players than ever before are speaking out about the demanding schedule.
“They all have the same message,” Bielefeld said. “Entering a busy season with even more competitions, new Champions League format, new Club World Cup format, and then the World Cup in 2026, the players understand that they are starting to pay a price ahead of an extremely important time for their careers that they’re not willing to accept any longer.”
The research will also serve as supporting evidence in a separate legal action against FIFA filed by England’s Professional Footballers’ Association, France’s Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels and Italy’s Associazione Italiana Calciatori.
