FIFA excluded the 65,000-member players’ union FIFPro from player welfare talks in Morocco

November 10 – FIFA escalates tensions with FIFPro after excluding the world players’ union from player welfare talks in Morocco. FIFPro slammed those invited as “not a meaningful global representation of the independent players’ union”.

The world governing body is pressing ahead with plans to develop new proposals for player welfare, holding a Professional Player Consultation Forum in Rabat, Morocco, on the sidelines of the U-17 Women’s World Cup. FIFA claimed that the forum was attended “by representatives of 30 players’ unions”.

In a statement, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, targeting FIFPro, said: “FIFA wants to work with all parties who are genuinely interested in progress and respectful dialogue – our door is always open to all views that respect these values.”

FIFPro, which represents more than 65,000 members and 72 national unions, said it was not invited to the meeting because it said it “does not include meaningful global representation from independent players’ unions that speak on behalf of players and are an integral part of labor negotiations.”

FIFPro said that FIFA was promoting fake unions: “FIFA has previously implemented a similar strategy with agents and fans, creating FIFA-friendly organizations for the consultation process rather than engaging with football’s recognized representative bodies. Extending this practice to labor issues and promoting fake or ‘yellow’ unions would weaken the representativeness of collective workers and run counter to International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions.”

The Rabat meeting focused on player rest and recovery, including rest periods between matches and the length of the off-season, as well as player representation.

Although they called the Rabat meeting “deeply flawed”, the union said that “FIFA must help build a proper collective bargaining process at global level based on ILO standards and conventions. This process must be fair, structured and sincere.”

Relations between the two organizations soured in the run-up to and during the Club World Cup, FIFA’s 32-team summer tournament that stretched players’ workloads to the limit due to a busy calendar and heat. FIFA excluded FIFPro from a meeting in New York on player welfare.

The war of words erupted after Sergio Marchi, president of FIFPro, criticized FIFA and compared Infantino to the Roman emperor Nero. FIFA then accused FIFPro of engaging in a “manufactured PR battle” and demanded the union publish its annual financial report.

Last year, FIFPro filed a complaint with the European Commission against FIFA regarding the international match calendar.

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