EPL chief fears impact of Fifa’s Club World Cup on Man City and Chelsea

LONDON – English Premier League chief executive Richard Masters fears that the 2025 Club World Cup could create “great difficulty” for Manchester City and Chelsea ahead of next season’s top-flight campaign.

The two clubs will be England’s representatives in Fifa’s expanded 32-team tournament in the United States, with players’ unions threatening legal action on welfare grounds and national leagues unhappy about the potential knock-on effects on their own competitions.

The Club World Cup final is due to be played on July 13, with the 2025-26 Premier League season starting on Aug 16.

“The leagues and the players’ unions are not happy with the decisions that are being taken at a global level,” Masters told Sky Sports on Jan 2.

“We’ve seen the Club World Cup come in, and obviously that is going to have an impact on the Premier League.

“If either Manchester City or Chelsea get to the final of that competition, the Premier League starts four weeks later, and all players are supposed to have three weeks off as part of the contractual commitment.

“So how does that work? With great difficulty, I would say.”

The Briton, meanwhile, insisted that English football is “not on a financial precipice” as he reiterated the Premier League’s concerns about the potential impact of an independent regulator on the game.

The Premier League spent more than £45 million (S$76.6 million) in legal costs during the 2023-24 season as it attempted to uphold its rules amid challenges from clubs.

And there will have been additional and significant legal fees this season for the Premier League as their major disciplinary case against City is still ongoing.

The reigning champions were charged in 2023 with more than 100 alleged breaches of the league’s financial rules. An independent commission heard the case between September and December, with an outcome now pending.

City have also challenged the legality of the league’s associated party transaction regulations, which seek to ensure deals done with organisations linked to a club’s ownership are at a fair market value.

The current and former British government’s aim in supporting an independent regulator is to safeguard the financial sustainability of clubs in the top five tiers of English football.

Masters, however, insisted too many regulations could damage the excitement on which the Premier League thrives.

“We have that jeopardy, we have that constant fizz of compelling entertainment,” he said.

“There are many different reasons (for the Premier League’s global popularity) but that, I think, is what separates us from others.”

He added: “We have always been pro-investment within measured risks. The Premier League is not a pension fund, it is a place where capital is put at risk. There is no certainty of outcome – that is one of the things that makes it interesting.

“We do worry that a new regulatory function might be risk-averse and might inhibit clubs’ ability to invest. And the ability to invest is key to competitive balance, and that jeopardy that I’m talking about.”

He also suggested that Premier League broadcasting will possibly change in the near future, hinting at a Netflix-style streaming channel for fans.

“I think obviously, things are going to change. Maybe the broadcast market. But I hope that we retain and maintain some of the great things about English football,” Masters said.

“During the last (rights-bidding) process (for the 2019-22 seasons) we spent quite a lot of time and invested a lot of resources in building our expertise and capacity in direct-to-consumer.

“Eventually the Premier League will move to a mix of direct-to-consumer and (traditional) media-rights sales.”

Once a company that eschewed live broadcasts, Netflix is pushing hard into sports and other live events.

It had said its coverage of two Christmas Day National Football League games, the first by the streaming company, attracted more than 24 million viewers each, well above what the average pro American football broadcast has delivered this season.
BLOOMBERG, AFP