FIFPRO president Marchi calls for stakeholder talks on workload and player protections ahead of World Cup year.

FIFPRO president Sergio Marchi has called for “open dialogue among all stakeholders” in football, warning that fixture congestion and weak labour protections are putting players at risk ahead of a pivotal year that includes the men’s World Cup.Marchi said the calendar is already failing to provide the recovery time players need, and argued that decisions affecting welfare must be addressed collectively by FIFA, confederations, leagues, clubs and players.Marchi said: “Football belongs to everyone, not to one person or one sector alone. I would like to invite open dialogue among all stakeholders so that we can find common ground and make this festival even better than it already is.”He said the immediate challenge is to protect the conditions that allow players to reach major tournaments in good physical and mental shape.Marchi said: “The fundamental challenge is to make the competition as fair as possible, ensuring all players arrive with an acceptable workload and adequate rest. We know the current calendar does not allow for that.”He linked the quality of the 2022 World Cup to player freshness, saying he raised the point directly with FIFA president Gianni Infantino in a previous interview.Marchi said: “He said Qatar and the Argentina-France final. I replied that this was because players arrived in the middle of the season, rested, with a match load less than 40 percent of what they usually carry into other World Cups.”Beyond elite tournaments, Marchi said most professional footballers face a very different reality, including late or unpaid wages and short-term contracts with limited social protection.He said: “For example, the failure to honour contracts, which is a form of economic violence against players and their families. Many players have no health coverage or social security, no contracts lasting at least a year, and live with constant uncertainty, often without receiving their salaries on time.”Marchi added: “We are talking about more than 50 percent of the world’s footballers.”He said football’s stakeholders should also discuss longer-term measures, including a system of universal compensation at the end of every player’s career, arguing the industry has the resources and a “moral responsibility” to act.