Jurgen Klopp hits out at FIFA
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hit out at FIFA’s gruelling football schedule.
The Premier League giants have recently been punished for not letting their Brazilian players join up on international duty and Klopp explained that FIFA’s relentless calendar is having a negative impact on the players.
The German claims that no other physical sport has a demanding calendar like football and the only reason FIFA continue to extract more out of the players is so that they can make more money.
The Liverpool manager also established that nobody is more important than the players and authorities like FIFA and UEFA will have to consider their welfare.
Klopp said: “We all know why it’s happening, whatever people say that it is about giving different countries the opportunity, that’s why there are more teams in the World Cup, for example, but in the end, it’s all about money, that’s how it is.
“That’s fine. We do it because not because of money but because we love it, but of course we get lots of money as well.
“But in the end at some point, somebody has to start understanding that without the players, the most important ingredients of this wonderful game, we cannot play it, that’s how it is.
“Whoever thinks it’s more important than the players, is it FIFA, UEFA, the chairmen, the sporting directors, the managers – nobody is more important than the players!
“Imagine if it would be the case that every two years there is a World Cup, then we can be 100% sure that every two years there is a European Championship as well. “That means for top class plays they just play every year a big tournament. Every year.”
CONMEBOL slams World Cup idea
Meanwhile, CONMEBOL have followed UEFA in slamming FIFA’s proposed plan of hosting a World Cup every two years.
The South American football confederation claims that such a plan would distort the most important football competition on the planet.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been the main driving force behind the idea of hosting major tournaments more often in order to provide more meaningful matches.
However, the likes of UEFA and CONMEBOL are completely against the idea and it remains to be seen whether FIFA decides to back down and continue with the current format of the World Cup.
“A World Cup every two years would represent an overload that is practically impossible to manage in the international competition calendar,” a CONMEBOL statement read. “In the current conditions, it is already complex to harmonize times, schedules, logistics, adequate preparation of equipment and commitments.
“The situation would be extremely difficult with the proposed change. It could even put the quality of other tournaments, both club and national, at risk.
“A World Cup every two years could distort the most important football competition on the planet, lowering its quality and undermining its exclusive character and its current demanding standards.
“The World Cup is an event that attracts the attention and expectations of billions of people because it represents the culmination of a process of elimination that lasts the entire four-year period and has its own dynamics and appeal.”
