FIFPRO’s president delivered some of his strongest criticism yet as the ongoing feud with FIFA shows no sign of ending.
FIFPRO has accused FIFA of sidelining the global players’ union after it was not invited to a meeting in Morocco where the governing body announced new player-related measures.
The event, held in Rabat on November 8, brought together FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Secretary General Mattias Grafström and representatives from 30 players’ unions.
However, FIFPRO said the group did not include any genuine global representation of independent unions which take part in labour negotiations and speak directly for players.
In a statement, FIFPRO said FIFA was repeating a “concerning pattern” of consulting FIFA-aligned organisations instead of working with recognised representative bodies. The union called the approach “deeply flawed” and said it falls short of International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards.
What happened in Rabat
In a release published on November 9, FIFA said the meeting introduced the new FIFA Professional Players Consultation Forum, which it claims will help advance the interests of professional players worldwide.
FIFA said the unions present backed several welfare measures, including minimum rest periods between matches, a mandatory off-season break, weekly rest days, and greater care when scheduling games that involve long-haul travel or extreme weather conditions.
The organisation also announced an expanded FIFA Fund for Professional Players, which will receive $20m between 2026 and 2029 to support players who are unable to recover unpaid wages when their clubs run into financial trouble. FIFA said a new legal working group will also be set up to review transfer rules, contract standards and dispute-resolution processes.
Infantino said FIFA remained “committed to further enhancing player welfare” and thanked the unions which had “proactively approached FIFA to engage in open discussions”, adding the door “is always open” to those willing to take part in constructive dialogue.
FIFPRO’s response: ‘Empty words’
FIFPRO rejected the legitimacy of the Rabat meeting, stating it was not invited and does not recognise the unions selected to participate as representatives of the global workforce.
In a statement issued separately, FIFPRO President Sergio Marchi criticised what he called a pattern of FIFA making decisions on its own, without proper consultation and overlooking the daily realities players face in many parts of the world.
He pointed to issues such as packed match calendars, kick-offs in extreme conditions, unpaid wages and contract breaches as signs of a system which treats “footballers as inexhaustible resources, not as people”.
“Power, when exercised without dignity, ceases to be authority and becomes moral misery,” Marchi said. “Football cannot continue to be built on the sacrifice of those who make it possible.”
Marchi also accused FIFA of “structural discrimination” in how it chooses which unions to engage, adding players who raise concerns about welfare are often pressured to stay quiet.
The union noted similar systems already operate in the European Union, where leagues, clubs and FIFPRO Europe take part in formal governance processes and said it wants those principles applied worldwide.
“I invite those who today hold the most important decisions to reflect. Because the path of demagoguery and despotism does not lead to progress but is a poor sustenance for people and institutions,” Marchi said.
“In the fourth century BC, Aristotle first used the famous phrase: ‘The only truth is reality.’ That truth, now more than ever, exposes the distance between words and deeds.
