Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has insisted that the top flight will not reduce its number to 18 clubs, amid growing tensions with FIFA over the expanding football calendar.
Masters claims to be a supportive of the ‘growth of the game’ but he believes it should not come ‘at the expense of domestic football’.
His comments come ahead of the start of the 2025-26 Premier League season, which is due to start on August 15, just four weeks after the previous campaign concluded after Chelsea’s victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the revamped Club World Cup.
The tournament, the brainchild of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, has created serious division between the sport’s top governing body and some of its stakeholders, most notably FIFPro, the world’s players’ union.
‘I don’t think we should be forced into that decision,’ Masters told the BBC on the prospect of reducing the number of clubs in the top flight for the first time in 31 years.
‘I am all for the growth of the game and the exciting competitions our clubs can participate in – but not at the expense of domestic football.’
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has insisted that the top flight will not reduce its number to 18 clubs
His comments come amid growing tensions with FIFA over the expanding footballing calendar
The 2025-26 Premier League campaign gets underway on August 15, just one month after the conclusion of the Club World Cup
In the weeks that have followed the conclusion of the Club World Cup, relations between FIFA and FIFPro have deteriorated.
Alex Phillips, the general secretary of FIFPro who represents 66,000 male and female players around the world, claimed that stars worried about potential backlash from clubs and governing bodies.
FIFPro believes that FIFA has adopted an ‘autocratic’ approach to its governance under president Gianni Infantino and accused the body of ignoring players’ needs.
‘It is unacceptable for an organisation that claims global leadership to turn a blind eye to the basic needs of the players,’ said FIFPro following a meeting of 58 player unions in Amsterdam.
Ahead of the final of the competition, FIFA held a meeting to address concerns over player welfare and a minimum three-week off-season break was agreed. However, it is understood than no FIFPro representatives were invited.
Masters revealed that he sides with the union in claiming FIFA has not consulted the game properly, on the implementation of the expanded 32-team Club World Cup or next summer’s World Cup, which will be the first to include 48 countries.
‘The jury is out about the competitiveness of the format and the scheduling and the underlying economics, but it is not my job to assess the success or otherwise of the Club World Cup,’ he added.
‘It is my job to assess whether these new competitions have an impact on the domestic calendar and domestic competitions, of which the Premier League is one.
Relations between FIFA and the players’ union FIFPro have deteriorated. Picture: FIFA president Gianni Infantino (left) and FIFPro president Sergio Marchi (right)
‘Since 1994 the Premier League has been 380 matches, 20 clubs. We haven’t changed shape at all. Now we are now starting to redesign our domestic calendar at the altar of European and global expansion.
‘We are asking the players to play in more matches. There has to be, at the top of the game, a proper dialogue between Fifa and all the stakeholders about how these things go forward.
‘That has been sadly missing.’
