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World football’s governing body says players risk being banned from the World Cup and other tournaments if they are involved.
FIFA have gone on the offensive amid ongoing speculation about a European Super League, insisting that any escape by big football clubs “would not be recognized by either FIFA or the respective confederation”.
He said in a statement Thursday that players would risk being banned from the World Cup and other major tournaments if they were involved.
“Any club or player involved in such a competition would therefore not be allowed to participate in a competition organized by FIFA or their respective confederation,” the statement said.
It was signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino along with the heads of the six continental confederations, including UEFA.
‘Selfish and Selfish Scheme’
In October, outgoing Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu launched a bombshell in a statement announcing his resignation, also saying the club had accepted a proposal to play in “a future European Super League”.
This followed reports in the UK that negotiations were about to be concluded for the creation of an 18-club “European Premier League”, backed by $ 6 billion in funding from major banks.
However, those reports came with still ongoing discussions about the future format of the UEFA Champions League, the most lucrative and prestigious club competition in the world.
In November 2018, German magazine Der Spiegel – citing leaked documents – reported that Spanish giants Real Madrid had planned a Super League to feature the continent’s biggest clubs.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin denounced it as a “selfish and selfish ploy” after Madrid president Florentino Pérez reportedly sought financiers to support the project.
The reports were seen as an attempt to pressure UEFA during talks to make changes to the Champions League that would favor elite clubs.
UEFA negotiations restarted after initial talks were stalled in 2019. The controversy was fueled by a club-backed proposal that would help teams retain their Champions League place.
FIFA and UEFA on Thursday reaffirmed the importance of promotion and relegation giving access to all clubs as a key tenet of football.
“Participation in world and continental competitions must always be won on the pitch,” said the press release led by FIFA.
Extended Club World Cup
Meanwhile, FIFA remains focused on plans for an enlarged 24-team Club World Cup, backed by Infantino.
The competition was scheduled to take place for the first time this year in China but has been postponed to a later date after Euro 2020 and the Copa America has been postponed to June and July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The delayed 2020 edition of the Club World Cup will take place next month in its current format, involving only the champions of each confederation – minus New Zealand’s Auckland City of Oceania which withdrew due to complications caused by the pandemic – plus the host champions. nation, Qatar.
“In accordance with the statutes of FIFA and the confederations, all competitions must be organized or recognized by the competent body at their respective level, by FIFA at world level and by the confederations at continental level,” said FIFA.
“In this regard, the confederations recognize the FIFA Club World Cup, in its current and new format, as the only club competition in the world, while FIFA recognizes the club competitions organized by the confederations as the only continental club competitions.
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