PFA chief executive Maheta Molango has accused FIFA of treating players like pawns by launching an expanded 32-team Club World Cup. 

Mail Sport revealed the itinerary for the new competition on Friday which will take place between June 15 and July 13 2025 in the United States, leaving Manchester City and Chelsea’s players facing major tournaments in three successive summers with the Club World Cup final taking place just three weeks before the start of the following season.

City and Chelsea have already qualified for the tournament by virtue of winning the Champions League since 2021 and Arsenal could join them if they lift the trophy this season, but Liverpool and Manchester United have been locked out after FIFA decided not to permit more than two entrants from one country unless they have won the Champions League in the last three years.

In an outspoken attack on both FIFA and UEFA, who have chosen to expand the Champions League from next season, Molango accused football’s rulers of paying lip service to player welfare and putting their health at risk.

PFA chief executive Maheta Molango  (above) has accused FIFA of treating players like pawns

FIFA have launched an expanded 32-team Club World Cup, which will take place between June 15 and July 13 2025 in the United States, adding more fixtures to the congested schedule

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‘The decision to push ahead with yet another expanded summer tournament – adding more and more games to a fixture list that is already at bursting point – just confirms that any expression of concern for player welfare is merely a pretence,’ 

Molango said. ‘Ultimately, players have become pawns in a battle for primacy between football’s governing bodies, with no one willing to take a step back or to work collaboratively to create a sustainable calendar.

‘These decisions have consequences – not just for players who are being pushed until they break, but for the future quality of these tournaments, with players becoming injured or withdrawing from games as they make their own decisions about how to manage what have become ridiculous demands.’