Fifa accused of promoting ‘fake’ football unions amid player welfare debate | OneFootball

Fifa has been accused of promoting “fake” unions instead of fostering genuine dialogue on player welfare.

The accusation comes after the world players' union, Fifpro, was not invited to a recent meeting convened by football's global governing body in Morocco.

Fifpro stated that the event, dubbed the Fifa Professional Players Consultation Forum, "did not involve a meaningful global representation of independent player unions that speak on behalf of players and are an integral part of labour negotiations".

Fifpro’s statement added: “This approach reinforces a concerning pattern. Fifa has previously applied similar strategies with agents and fans, creating Fifa-friendly organisations for consultation processes rather than engaging with the recognised football representative bodies.

“Extending this practice to employment matters and promoting fake or ‘yellow’ unions undermines collective worker representation and runs counter to International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.”

Fifa president Gianni Infantino (Fabrizio Corradetti/LaPresse vía AP)

Relations between the world player union and the sport’s global governing body have been strained to say the least for some time, with Fifpro’s Europe division involved in two separate legal actions against Fifa over what it claims is a failure to adequately consult over the international match calendar.

Fifa said the meeting had been attended by representatives of 30 national player unions. Sources have told the PA news agency that at least four of those 30 unions were represented by individuals suspended for poor governance or corruption.

The meeting, which followed a similar gathering in New York in July which Fifpro was also not invited to, featured the endorsement of player welfare measures, including a 72-hour break between matches, a 21-day rest period between seasons, one rest day per week and “measures to consider long-haul intercontinental trips and climatic conditions”.

Fifa said these points would be subject to further consultation.

Fifpro added in its statement: “While Fifa has made some important advances together with Fifpro in recent years, Fifa continues to hide its unilateral governance structure of professional football behind so-called stakeholder consultation – a deeply flawed process as shown with the meeting in Rabat.”

Fifa has been approached for comment.