Premier League chief govt Richard Masters has insisted the Premier League is not going to cut back in dimension from 20 to 18 golf equipment amid mounting strain over an increasingly-congested soccer calendar.
The new top-flight season kicks-off on 15 August, simply 5 weeks after Chelsea lifted the inaugural expanded Club World Cup with victory over European champions Paris Saint-Germain.
It will start an 11-month marketing campaign of aggressive soccer, culminating within the males’s new 48-team World Cup finals within the US, Mexico and Canada all through June and July 2026.
Critics of what they see as an overly-busy soccer schedule have been steadily rising lately.
Manchester City midfielder and Ballon d’Or winner Rodri final 12 months warned that gamers are “close” to occurring strike because of the enhance within the variety of video games golf equipment are anticipated to play every season.
Uefa’s growth of its three continental membership competitions – the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League – was a key issue within the choice to scrap FA Cup replays final time period.
And whereas France’s Ligue 1 opted to cut back from 20 to 18 groups for the 2023-24 season, Masters mentioned such a transfer wouldn’t be replicated throughout the Channel.
“I don’t think we should be forced into that decision,” Masters informed BBC Sport.
“I am all for the growth of the game and the exciting competitions our clubs can participate in – but not at the expense of domestic football.”
Masters’ feedback come within the midst of an ongoing dispute between Fifa and gamers’ union FifPro over the potential affect of the schedule on participant welfare.
Masters shares the union’s perception that Fifa didn’t undertake an acceptable session course of earlier than implementing the growth of the Club World Cup and World Cup.
“The jury is out about the competitiveness of the format and the scheduling and the underlying economics, but it is not my job to assess the success or otherwise of the Club World Cup,” Masters mentioned.
“It is my job to evaluate whether or not these new competitions have an effect on the home calendar and home competitions, of which the Premier League is one.
“Since 1994 the Premier League has been 380 matches, 20 golf equipment. We haven’t modified form in any respect.
“Now we are actually beginning to redesign our home calendar on the altar of European and international growth.
“We are asking the gamers to play in additional matches. There must be, on the prime of the sport, a correct dialogue between Fifa and all of the stakeholders about how these items go ahead.
“That has been sadly missing.”
Chelsea and Manchester City, who each participated within the Club World Cup, had requests for delayed begins to their respective home campaigns rejected by the Premier League – a call Masters mentioned was made within the curiosity of equity.
“It is the butterfly impact of decisions taken beyond our influence by other footballing bodies that directly impact on domestic leagues,” mentioned Masters.
“When you end a match in mid-July and have to offer the gamers with three weeks’ break, there may be solely every week to go earlier than the beginning of the season.
“It doesn’t add up. It puts us in unnecessary conflict with our own clubs. It’s not just those involved in the Club World Cup. It is the clubs they are playing and we have to be fair to everyone.”
