The end of each year is a moment of balance. and Sergio MarchiThe Argentine president of the World Federation of Professional Football Players (FIFPro) did the following at the beginning of his administration: He harshly criticized FIFA for failing to fulfill promises made by president Gianni Infantino regarding demands for improvements to competition conditions and schedules.One of the main complaints since the first Club World Cup expanded to 32 teams was that chelsea of Enzo Fernandez.
“As 2025 comes to an end, unfortunately, world football continues to exhibit the same negative effects that we warned about all those years ago. We have heard promises, speeches and announcements from FIFA that seem to signal the beginning of a new phase. But they were just empty words, advertisements without content. Nothing changed. The same injustice, the same abuse, the same lack of respect for the true protagonists of this game, the footballers.” Mr. Malki began his declaration, which he broadcast to the media.
In that sense, Coach Marchi asserted that although “more humane, more rational soccer” was promised, “none of that was put into practice.” ”It’s a never-ending season, with games within three days, exhausting road trips, and no recovery breaks.. Soccer players are not treated as human beings, but as an inexhaustible resource. “Those who play too much put their physical and mental well-being at risk; those who play too little continue without policies to ensure real opportunity and growth,” he explained.
“Disastrous salaries and contract violations also continue, affecting thousands of footballers around the world. Despite promises made and repeated complaints, it is still tolerated that some footballers work for months without pay and see what they see as a violation of their most fundamental rights. I have warned this in every dialogue, but the response has been silence or indifference,” he said.
And he added: “Add to this the irresponsible scheduling of matches at extreme times and temperatures. Sports are subordinate to business. We saw that at the last Club World Cup in the United States, a tournament aimed at maximizing revenue regardless of the suffering of players and spectators. No planning, no prevention, no respect. There is only an obsession with economic gain”.
At this point, he directly marked Mr. Infantino, in addition to other leaders responsible for the most important decisions in world football, emphasizing: They continue to “act arrogantly without listening, dialogue, or consultation.”.
“Instead of giving space to all sectors that make up the football industry, We choose to discriminate and exclude. This was made clear by their choice of who to listen to and who to silence during a telephone conversation in Morocco. This practice is not accidental, it is structural discrimination and is extremely undemocratic.. And most seriously, by discriminating against the association, the soccer players the association represents are also being discriminated against. They are punished for having an institutional voice, for thinking differently, and for demanding dignity. “This attitude not only violates the right to collective representation, but also reveals a disregard for the most basic values of work and respect for people,” he said.
“These regulations are imposed unilaterally and without debate, without the actual participation of the football players who are the main actors in the game, and with complete cynicism they try to justify their decisions on their behalf. They are being legislated from a pedestal without understanding the human and labor impact these regulations create,” he concluded.
Mr. Marchi concluded by reaffirming his “commitment to dialogue and constructive engagement.” “I believe in the strength of words and the search for consensus, but I am also ready to fight resolutely with conviction. I am tired of hearing empty announcements and promises without clear facts. I am tired of seeing that since 2001, the basic rule of a minimum period of one year contract has been ignored. Thousands of footballers continue without that guarantee, and no one takes responsibility,” he recalled.
“I invite those who are making the most important decisions today to ponder, because the path of demagoguery and despotism does not lead to progress and is bad food for people and organizations. In the 4th century BC, the Stagilites first used the famous phrase: “The only truth is reality”. That truth reveals today more than ever the distance between speech and fact. Because every time the mystic tries to use tools to hide the truth, to cover up his irregular behavior, to break the rules, to shift his responsibility onto others, reality tries to expose him.. And the reality that thousands of footballers suffer from abuse, systematic breaches of contracts, excessive competition and discrimination of various kinds is something I will never stop demonstrating and defending,” he concluded.
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