1 November – Meeting in Brussels last week, European players’ union FIFPRO and the World Leagues Association took a step closer to EU regulations, or at least discussions about stricter European employment protocols relating to social enterprises – of which football is considered one.

In a joint statement they “stressed the importance of the existing European Sectoral Social Dialogue as a starting point for the stability and sustainable development of the professional football sector in Europe.”

There are 44 Sectoral Social Dialogue Committees consisting of 65 European employers’ organizations and 15 European trade union federations and representing around 185 million workers and more than 6 million companies across the EU.

The Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee was established by the EU in 1998 with the aim of providing consultations on developments at EU level that have social implications as well as to develop and promote dialogue between social partners at EU sectoral level.

Relevant to football are issues such as the match calendar and player workload, as well as proposals for new competitions that have a direct impact on clubs (social entities) and their employees (players). Each year European sectoral social partners adopt between 30 and 50 joint results positions on a wide range of topics.

While not a direct challenge to the authority of FIFA and UEFA, this marks a direction of travel that will reduce their authority to impose themselves without dialogue on leagues and clubs, in effect reducing the threat to their sustainability, livelihoods and social standing from FIFA in particular.

“At a roundtable meeting in Brussels, representatives from the league and the players’ union discussed a governance model in which social partners play an important role to negotiate agreements on employment issues between employees and employers in the professional football sector based on national and EU law,” said that statement.

This could of course impact FIFA competitions if the EU mandates working conditions for new players or takes action to protect their own clubs and leagues – something it is ultimately within their power to do. When viewed from the bottom line, this presents a clear and present danger to FIFA’s authority in Europe.

“FIFPRO Europe and the Europa League agreed to continue their dialogue in the coming weeks and months as a priority,” the statement said.

The latest meeting between players and leagues, organized by the Belgian Pro League, follows a complaint to the European Commission against FIFA regarding the international match calendar.

The complaint stated that FIFA had a conflict of interest regarding its role as competition organizer and governing body and that it violated European competition law.

The crux of the complaint is that FIFA imposed its international calendar on players and leagues without agreement or meaningful discussion with them. A statement that FIFA denies.

The complaint focuses on decisions taken regarding the international match calendar and in particular plans for the 2026 Club World Cup which FIFPRO and the World Leagues Association have asked to be abandoned, but also on the 2026 World Cup.

For FIFA, which is already struggling to generate revenue for its planned expansion of the Club World Cup in 2025, this adds another problem to the pile of problems it has to deal with.

For the league and players’ union, this is evidence of their distrust of a global governing body that refuses to fully recognize them as key stakeholders in football.

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