Unprecedented Rant by AFE President About the Club World Cup

One of the major innovations of the current season is the creation of the Club World Cup. This new competition organized by FIFA will be held every four years and is planned to take place during June and July, once the other tournaments have concluded. Despite these plans by the entity presided over by Gianni Infantino, not everyone agrees with the management of the schedule.

Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most notable. The Reggiolo coach, after the exhausting week that Real Madrid has had to face with its two Champions League and LaLiga matches, issued a serious warning. The coach of the merengue team is not the only elite European football coach who has raised his voice against the overload of competitions.

With the Club World Cup as another major reference competition, everything points to the participating clubs giving their all to reach the final and win it. In this context, there are many doubts about a possible reunion between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid in that hypothetical final in Miami, scheduled for July 13, 2025.

Isaac Fouto, a journalist from Cadena COPE, points out that LaLiga has already thought of a solution for that circumstance: "the League starts without them. The League does start on August 17 but if one of the two reaches the final, or both, they will start later" that domestic competition. Faced with the question of "how do you fit the matches?" in an already crowded schedule, Isaac Fouto doesn't have much of an answer: "of course, then you'll have to make it up".

Direct Claim

That is precisely the complaint of David Aganzo, president of AFE. "But how do you make it up, if now you have a match and look at the mess we're causing. Here the issue of creating competitions and new things is great, but they don't consider the footballers", the director of the Spanish Footballers' Association firmly recalls.

"The only thing I ask, and I think it's a matter of common sense, is that we don't want to wage a war just for the sake of it", says David Aganzo. The claims for proper rest time are based on the protection of the true protagonists of soccer, whose recovery margins have been significantly reduced in recent seasons.

David Aganzo concludes that "the teammates need to rest" after so many accumulated efforts. "The studies we conducted at FIFPro, where we've been talking to millions of people who are dedicated to this, are so that people can rest", Aganzo understands. "Because this way", as things are currently functioning, "it's impossible" to recover adequately.

"Because when you and I go to see Sporting, Oviedo, or Real Madrid, we want them to be in the best conditions", Aganzo concludes. The 'struggle' to achieve a reform in the schedule is a more than striking reality that doesn't correspond only to Real Madrid as many erroneously pointed out these days.