Club World Cup ‘devaluing’ football – PFA chief

The Club World Cup is devaluing football because players cannot perform properly, according to Professional Footballers ‘ Association chief executive Maheta Molango.

High temperatures have impacted players, while low crowds have also been a factor in Fifa’s extended competition in America.

Ten Juventus players asked to be substituted during their 1-0 defeat by Real Madrid, with the last-16 game in Miami on Tuesday played in temperatures reaching 30C and humidity of 70%.

Borussia Dortmund’s substitutes also spent the first half of their game against Mamelodi Sundowns last month watching from the dressing room because of the heat.

Six matches have had to be suspended because of thunderstorms, including a two-hour delay in Chelsea’s last-16 win over Benfica.

It means, less than a year before the start of the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, Molango is worried by how the competition is impacting the players and the sport.

“We’re devaluing the product and it’s a shame because if I’m a US fan and that’s my first exposure to soccer, that’s not good”, he said.

“We need to be mindful we’re competing with other sports and they’re very good at entertainment. Then it becomes a very poor comparison.

” We’ve reached a stage where the quality is dropping, because there’s no way you can have a good game if you play at 4pm in Mexico.

“It’s impossible, because the players themselves say to you ‘ I cannot. I need to manage my efforts” – which would mean what you see on the pitch is not good, the audiences drop, it’s as simple as that. This is all about money.

“My hope is that people now, even from a pure business perspective, will see that it does not make sense”.

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp called the competition “the worst idea ever implemented in football”, and days before the tournament, global players ‘ union Fifpro released a report saying players should be allowed at least a four-week off-season break.

“It’s this feeling of accumulation of competitions that just do not talk to each other and create a calendar that is just nonsensical”, added Molango.

“Let’s see what happens in October, November]to players] – that’s when you’re going to start seeing because you pay the price. This Club World Cup gives us a chance to start looking at the bigger picture”.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola understood Klopp’s position, but felt competing in the Club World Cup was the price of success.

Fifa has also defended itself with senior sources from the governing body telling BBC Sport last month the protection of player welfare has been at the core of decision-making, pointing to initiatives such as additional substitutes and permanent concussion subs.

Suggestions the competition has contributed to further congestion in the fixture calendar were firmly dismissed, with a source saying it was “not caused by the Club World Cup”.

It was pointed out a maximum of seven Club World Cup games will be played by two teams every four years, with the slot for the competition replacing the one previously used for the Fifa Confederations Cup.

The extended competition was a main trigger for a joint legal action last year by the PFA, along with the French and Italian players ‘ unions, against Fifa over the “overloaded and unworkable” football calendar. A hearing on that is likely to be held early next year.

It came before the top European leagues and players ‘ union Fifpro filed a legal complaint against Fifa with the European Commission over what it claims is an “abuse of dominance” by world football’s governing body.

“This is much more of a political one. It’s fair to say we are pretty confident the Commission will show an interest in probably taking the case, which is unusual”, Molango added.