MILAN. The General Assembly of the European Leagues, gathered in Milan, reiterated its no to the reform of the international calendars proposed by FIFA with the organization of the World Cup every two years and no longer every four as is the case now. According to Jacco Swart, managing director of the European Leagues, «we strongly reject the Fifa proposal, we have also discussed it directly with them. There would be repercussions at a sporting and financial level for the clubs, for the players and for the domestic leagues ». “As representatives we cannot accept these changes, we have discussed them and we have a unanimous position -, he added -. The World Cup and the other Uefa and Fifa competitions must be confirmed with the current schedule, if some changes are to take place we will always consider them in the interest of our members », he declared again.
«The defense of domestic football is important, which is why we are not in favor of organizing the World Cup every two years. If we want to defend the bases and foundations of football we need agreements between all the parties involved, simple consultations are no longer enough. We must be able to participate in the decision-making processes, ”added Claus Thomsen, chairman of the European Leagues, also during the press conference. «The European Leagues are not alone, but at our side there are also supporters’ organizations and FifPro with whom we have strengthened our collaboration. We agreed on the arrival of a personalized approach for individual national situations in relation to players’ contracts. There was also talk of the management of trauma and concussion. There was also talk of the format of the competitions and the redistribution of revenues – concluded Swart -. It was a very fruitful general meeting. The European leagues and FifPro next Tuesday will present a manifesto for the future of football governance in Brussels ».