Could football's top players REALLY go on strike? Tired stars are threatening the unthinkable amid fears over new FIFA Club World Cup, a packed calendar & burnout - and it may end up in court

The game's top players haven't been happy for some time now.

In October 2021, Thibaut Courtois publicly questioned what he and his Belgium team-mates were doing in Turin playing Italy in a Nations League third-place play-off.

"This game is just a money game and we have to be honest about it," the goalkeeper told reporters. "We just play it because it's extra money for UEFA... Next year we have a World Cup in November, we have to play maybe until the latter stages of June again. Three weeks of holiday is not enough for players to be able to continue for 12 months at the highest level. We will get injured." Courtois wasn't wrong. In August 2023, he tore the ACL in his left knee; eight months later, he tore a meniscus in his right.

Courtois was hardly an isolated case - even at Real Madrid, who have lost five other players to ACL injuries over the past year, including David Alaba, Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal.

Howden's Men's European Football Injury Index revealed in November 2023 that players from the continent's 'Big Five' leagues who had participated in the World Cup in Qatar took, on average, eight days longer to recover from injuries after the tournament compared to before - and that was primarily because of a massive increase in severe injuries to the ankle (up 170 percent), calf/shin (200%) and hamstring (130%). FIFPRO wasn't in the least bit surprised, pointing out that the average preparation time had dropped from an average of 31 days ahead of the previous seven World Cups to a single week, and that recovery time before the resumption of club football fell from 37 days to just eight.

When Raphael Varane announced his retirement from international football just over two months after the conclusion of the Qatar World Cup, he told Canal+ it was because he felt like he was "suffocating". "We have overloaded schedules and play non-stop," said the former France defender, who has since quit the club game too, even though he's only 31. "From the managers and players, we have shared our concerns for many years now that there are too many games, the schedule is overcrowded, and it's at a dangerous level for players' physical and mental well-being.

"Despite our previous feedback, they have now recommended for next season: longer games, more intensity, and less emotions to be shown by players. We just want to be in good condition on the pitch to give 100 percent to our club and fans. Why are our opinions not being heard?"

Liverpool and Brazil goalkeeper Alisson, who has been plagued by minor muscular problems in recent years, says that the players "are not stupid", that they are acutely aware of the importance of trying to keep everyone happy, including the organisers of the leagues and competitions that attract the colossal commercial and TV rights deals that pay a significant chunk of their sizable pay packets.

"We understand that people want more games but the reasonable thing would be for the people who are responsible for making the calendar to listen to all the parties involved, including the players," Alisson argued. "But, at the moment, it doesn't look like we are close to a solution for football's sake and for the players' sake."

And the Club World Cup is one of the main reasons why.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino first floated the idea of an expanded Club World Cup as far back as 2016, telling Mundo Deportivo, "Today football is not just about Europe and South America, the world has changed and that's why we need to make the Club World Cup more interesting for teams, and also for fans around the world. That’s what we’re trying to do, by creating a tournament that is much more attractive, with more quality among participants and more clubs. That will attract more sponsors and television companies from around the world."

Two years later, he claimed that a group of unidentified investors were potentially willing to commit around $25 billion (£20bn) to four editions of the tournament between 2021 and 2023. UEFA's Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC) said at the time that its members "unanimously expressed serious reservations about the process... and in particular the hasty timing and lack of concrete information", while Lars-Christer Olsson, the president of the European Professional Football Leagues accused FIFA of "selling football at great potential cost to its development without proper consultation and no transparency".

The Swede added: "We do not know who the investors are or how they have reached $25bn, which does not add up commercially."

Nonetheless, in October 2019, FIFA announced China as the host nation of the first edition of the revamped Club World Cup, which was to take place between June and July 2021, and while the subsequent pandemic forced a cancellation, FIFA revealed in June 2023 that a 32-team tournament would belatedly go ahead in the United States in 2025.

"It will be the pinnacle of elite professional men’s club football, and with the required infrastructure in place together with a massive local interest, the United States is the ideal host to kick off this new, global tournament," Infantino stated. "With some of the world's top clubs already qualified, fans from every continent will be bringing their passion and energy to the United States in two years' time for this significant milestone in our mission to make football truly global."

The Club World Cup launch has since become one of the divisive issues in the entire sport, though.

It has been welcomed by several clubs and leagues outside of Europe, and former stars such as John Terry and Andrea Pirlo have publicly backed the competition. Real Madrid and Barcelona also reacted positively to the revamp but there has been a mounting backlash to the plan within Europe, particularly among players, with the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) labelling it "a tipping point for the football calendar and the ability of players to be able to take meaningful breaks between seasons".

Consequently, in June of this year, the PFA and the French players' union brought an action before the Brussels court of commerce "challenging the legality of FIFA's decisions to unilaterally set the international match calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the FIFA Club World Cup 2025".

Four months later, the European Leagues, in conjunction with La Liga and FIFPRO Europe, filed a complaint with the European Commission that they claim will show that "FIFA's conduct infringes European Union competition law and notably constitutes an abuse of dominance".

"FIFA holds a dual role as both the global regulator of football and a competition organiser," the PFA said. "This creates a conflict of interest, which, consistent with recent case law of the EU courts, requires FIFA to exercise its regulatory functions in a way that is transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate. FIFA's conduct in respect of the international match calendar falls well short of these requirements."

Regarding the expansion of the Club World Cup, FIFA insists it is well within its rights to "set the parameters" of their own competitions "whilst respecting the regulatory framework in place". FIFA has also been at pains to point out that the tournament, which will be staged every four years and feature 12 teams from Europe, is effectively replacing the Confederations Cup and is thus arguing that it is not responsible for fixture congestion.

"FIFA is organising around 1 percent of the games of the top clubs in the world," Infantino said in his opening address to the 74th FIFA Congress in May, "while 98-99% of the matches are organised by the different leagues, associations, confederations. FIFA is financing football all over the world. The revenues that we generate are not just going to a few clubs in one country, the revenues that we generate are going to 211 countries all over the world. There is no other organisation that does that. Our mission is to organise events and competitions, and to develop football around the world because 70% of the Member Associations of FIFA would have no football without the resources coming directly from FIFA."

There was also some confusion within the governing body as to why the Club World Cup had suddenly became such a burning issue, given it was first confirmed five years ago - as well as the fact that "the current calendar was unanimously approved by the FIFA Council, which is composed of representatives from all continents, including Europe, following a comprehensive and inclusive consultation, which included FIFPRO and league bodies."

FIFA also claimed that "some leagues in Europe - themselves competition organisers and regulators - are acting with commercial self-interest, hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world" - a clear reference to UEFA controversially expanding its European competitions, while both La Liga and the Premier League explore the possibility of playing competitive games overseas.

FIFA added: "Those leagues apparently prefer a calendar filled with friendlies and summer tours, often involving extensive global travel. By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game."

It was also reported at the time of the Congress that FIFA had extended an olive branch to the World Leagues Association to stave off the threat of legal action and the game's governing body would argue that the entire process has been open and transparent. However, PFA CEO Maheta Molango says the main problem here is "a difference of opinion" over the meaning of the word 'consultation'.

"Consultation is not me having a crazy idea, I then tell you about the crazy idea, you complain about it, so I make some tweaks and then go ahead with it anyway. It's still a crazy idea!" the former Brighton forward tells GOAL. "Consultation is a meaningful discussion between two parties where you put forward an idea and then I respond with some counter-arguments. We may or may not agree but you can't just do it anyway and I feel that we've reached this point because of a lack of communication.

"There was an initial point of discussion that dates back to 2022, when we sent a letter signed by all of the captains of the Premier League and the Women's Super League, sounding the alarm, basically saying the situation is not going in the right direction and we need to do something together. And that move was met positively by FIFA and we had a meeting in Manchester where we had a chance to share our views. But, unfortunately, the situation hasn't got better since then. I would argue, in fact, that it's got worse."

FIFA points to the fact that it set up a dedicated task force on player welfare to ensure the smooth implementation of player welfare principles such as mandatory rest periods, but Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO's director of Policy & Strategic Relations, says that "all went silent until after we filed our legal complaint!" The net result is that we're now seeing evidence of players not only talking about taking matters into their own hands - but actually doing so.

Before the international break that's just come to a close, several high-profile players withdrew from Nations League fixtures with injuries of varying degrees of severity. "It's an indirect consequence of the overloading of the calendar, pushing the players beyond their limits without providing the proper standards of safety," Bielefeld says on a Zoom call to discuss a newly-published report by Belgian university KU Leuven on football player health. "So, the players are essentially voting with their feet, taking rest where they can.

"However, during this international window we've also had the Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany voluntarily giving a week's holiday to the players who stayed behind. So, for example, Alphonso Davies didn't report for Canada duty due to fatigue, and got a week off to recover as a result. Safeguards don't usually happen voluntarily, though. Most coaches are not usually in the same position as Kompany, whose team is five points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

"In general, there's a lack of rotation and coaches in France told us that they have fielded players that they know are carrying injuries. That's because there is constant pressure within the industry, from clubs, sponsors, media, management etc., to field the best players in every game. So, by not properly dealing with this issue, players and coaches are trying to deal with it themselves - because the game's other stakeholders are failing to protect them."

It has been argued that modern footballers - particularly those playing at the highest level - are more pampered and well-paid than at any previous point in the history of the game, and former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness was among several ex-pros to scoff at the idea of players taking strike action, not least because coaches at top teams these days have bigger squads and more substitutions to work with, making rotation far more common than it was even just 15 years ago.

"I think playing so much is the price of the ticket," the Scot told William's Hill's podcast Three Up Front. "I never felt tired when I was a player. If you’re winning all the time, that means that you’ll play more games. If you're Manchester City and, in a big club, you’ve got 40 people in your squad to use."

Former Bayern striker and CEO Karl Heinz-Rummenigge also essentially claimed that the game's elite players have essentially contributed to their own downfall.

"I understand this discussion [over the match calendar] but the players and their agents have manoeuvred themselves into this trap," the German told Kicker. "By demanding ever more and ever higher salaries, they are forcing the clubs to generate ever higher revenues. And where does this revenue come from? Through more games. That is why I'm saying that we should sit down with all those involved and discuss, without emotion, what mechanisms we need to put in place to bring back more rational times [in terms of fixtures and salaries]."

It is worth noting, though, that the likes of Bernardo Silva and others have openly admitted that they are very fortunate to be able to make an incredible living playing the game they love - while at the same time pointing out that players are under more pressure and public scrutiny than ever before yet afforded less and less free time to spend with family and friends, meaning they now feel just as overwhelmed mentally as they do physically.

"Some of the reports we're doing now are starting to take into consideration squad inclusions too," Molango tells GOAL. "Last year, Phil Foden played about 75 games - which is a lot - but he was also included in an additional six or seven squads, so that means you still travel with the team, you prepare as normal, you return home late, which disrupts sleep patterns. And I think there's sometimes a lack of understanding of how things are for footballers from day to day, and how much physical and mental pressure they're under.

"The players at the top are the first to admit that they're in a very privileged position. They've been able to turn their passion into their profession. They love the game and they want to play every game. And many do. But sometimes they have to be protected from themselves because they're so competitive and we're very concerned about the long-term effects of this excessive workload because all the money in the world can't buy you an extra lung to deal with the demands of modern football!"

Bielefeld also claims that the elite medical teams employed by Europe's biggest clubs are being hindered in their work by an international match schedule that is "running players into the ground".

"There's just not enough time for them to properly play their part," he says, "and that's why we need to address this at the governance level. The entire industry has been extremely dismissive on the matter of player welfare because health and safety was interfering with their way of conducting business. Nobody wanted to be restricted in terms of how they schedule matches and how they sell commercial rights by promising the availability of star players.

"We've seen some governing bodies dismiss what the players are talking about and we've seen the comments about their privileged position, wealth and earnings. We've seen governing bodies and leagues pointing out what percentage of the games they're organising in an attempt to argue that they don't bear any great responsibility for the workload. It just comes across as a justification to not do anything about the schedule. But this is a responsibility that you just cannot get away from."

Indeed, FIFPRO believes that FIFA will have to make concessions sooner or later, and one way or another.

According to Alfonso Lamadrid, the expert in competition law leading FIFPRO's complaint against FIFA, footballers are entitled to the same legal rights as other employees within the European Union in terms of guaranteed and protected breaks, and he thus believes the game's governing body is "not only failing to protect players' health and safety, it's also actively making it impossible to comply collective bargaining agreements, for example, because of the way it sets the calendar."

Much of the media focus on FIFPRO Europe's legal action has centred on the Club World Cup, which is scheduled to get underway on June 15, but Lamadrid insists that the union and the leagues are not trying to force a suspension of the tournament, which even Rodri has spoken about possibly playing in if he returns from injury before June.

"The problem we're pointing to is bigger and broader than one tournament," he tells GOAL on a Zoom call. "There was the possibility to ask for the suspension of the Club World Cup but we haven't done that. What we've done is make it very clear that the scheduling of the competition is based on illegal conduct. It's tainted by illegality.

"Now, if FIFA wants to go ahead with that illegality, that's up to them. They would be taking that position at their own risk. But we are not asking the European Commission to block the tournament because, procedurally, it would not have been possible. But we have made it clear that it's contrary to EU Law. So, if FIFA wants to proceed, they will face the consequences eventually.

"There's no deadline for the Commission to conduct their investigation. We know that it's already started and that FIFA has been asked for its views. We could have an idea of what action the Commission wants to take in about six months, but there's no deadline. And it largely depends on FIFA. They have the option to address some of the issues we're raising at any point. If they do that, there could be a swift resolution. If they choose to fight and potentially take this to the European Court, where they have not fared very well recently, it could take longer. But it's up to them to decide."

And the longer this drags on, the more likely a strike becomes.

"Ultimately, unions are doing what their workers want them to do. Legal action doesn't happen in a vacuum. There was a demand for us to take action. So, let's see where it goes," Bielefeld says. "A strike in football across different leagues and countries would be a difficult thing to do, and everyone recognises that, but I think this is quite a unique moment in terms of how well connected players are on this issue.

"They feel that they're starting to pay a price for an overcrowded schedule that they're simply not willing to accept anymore. They're not afraid to address this issue now and I think that is the main difference to a few years ago. That's why you're now seeing them discuss the calendar and possible strike action in a very public manner."

Molango is saddened that we've reached this point and has not given up on a compromise being reached, particularly as FIFPRO has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with UEFA that will give players a greater say in the governance of European football, but the PFA chief also says that neither the players nor those supporting them have any intention of backing down in their bid to secure basic workers' rights.

"Football should adhere to the same basic employee rules as any other industry," Molango tells GOAL. "Those guys are employees and they should be heard, because those are the guys affected by hours and holidays. Where we end up, I don't know, but there's a real and growing sense of frustration among the players because they're seeing and feeling the effects of the calendar on their own bodies. Being out injured for a year makes you think a lot about your career. And if you see a team-mate injure his ACL, you're naturally going to think, 'I could be next.' So, you cannot exclude any option.

"But I really hope that we find a solution. Because we don't want to be a place where issues have to be resolved in courts and tribunals because that's not good for the industry."

Unfortunately, that may be the only thing everyone involved agrees on right now, meaning one cannot help but wonder, how many more footballers will join Rodri on the sidelines before the bitter dispute over the match calendar is finally resolved?