Football authorities are increasingly concerned that FIFA may push for the reduction of league sizes to 18 teams globally, including in the Premier League. This concern arises amidst ongoing disputes between domestic leagues, player representatives, and FIFA over the expansion of the Club World Cup.
According to UK Sun, a primary concern for the Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and other top leagues is that FIFA could implement regulations capping the number of matches by reducing top divisions to 18 teams, resulting in a 34-game season.
President of La Liga, Javier Tebas, voiced these fears, stating, “If we don’t take action the industry is in danger, right now. FIFA’s solution is just to create new competitions. But for that to happen and for us to be able to fit these competitions in, we would have to lose two clubs from La Liga. That would mean we’d have to make 70 players unemployed at those clubs and it would lose thousands of jobs related to those clubs.
“We need to fix the current problems before creating new competitions that will destroy the industry, clubs, jobs, the dreams of fans – and football.”
Tebas’ comments in London follow a Sun Sport report about potential boycotts of the 32-club tournament set for the USA next summer.
PFA chief, Maheta Molango, also disclosed that Premier League players have threatened to strike rather than play unwillingly.
These concerns are echoed by Premier League executives, who fear FIFA might indeed enforce a reduction in the number of top-flight teams.
According to an insider, “We all think that this is the ultimate aim from FIFA, to find a way of making us drop to 18. What you can put your money on is the working group saying there is too much domestic football, that we should all go down from 20 clubs to 18 and that the least impact on players comes from international matches. We wouldn’t be shocked if they have already written their conclusions.”
Currently, La Liga, the Premier League, and Italy’s Serie A each have 20 teams, while Belgium’s Pro League features 16 teams but includes a playoff stage that extends their season to 40 games.
The Premier League initially had 22 teams in 1993-94, with plans to reduce to 18, but this idea was abandoned after the reduction to 20 teams in the 1995-96 season.
FIFA has not officially responded to these claims, although senior figures assert that they have not mandated leagues to reduce to 18 teams.
They emphasize that national associations and competitions retain autonomy over such decisions. However, it is noted that many major leagues globally already operate with fewer than 20 clubs.
