Premier League CEO: FIFA should reduce international games; Premier League will implement a cost cap of 85%

Hupu October 3rd Premier League President Richard Masters believes that the domestic league is competing with FIFA for fans' attention and players' time, and this global governance body still has not heard people's concerns about crowded schedules and player welfare.

At the Leader's Sports Business Conference in London, Masters compared the growth in the number of matches and events currently held by FIFA and UEFA with the Premier League schedule that has not changed since 1994.

"There is no more space on the schedule. Obviously there is a problem of player welfare, but it is essentially a struggle for football raw materials, that is, the struggle between players and schedule space.

Our job in the Premier League is to protect domestic football and the Premier League space, which is mainly weekend games.

We hope that all bosses and coaches wake up every morning and have only one goal, that is, to win championships or succeed in the Premier League, rather than thinking, ‘I have too many conflicting goals now, and I have to give some players a break on the weekend’.

I believe this goal still exists, and I hope to continue.”

In addition to taking charge of the Premier League, Masters is also the president of the World League Association. The association last year worked with the European branch of the players' union FIFPro to file a complaint with the European Commission about FIFA's alleged abuse of market dominance.

"We have differences with FIFA because FIFA really is unwilling to communicate with national leagues, and we think that this situation needs to be changed. We believe that domestic football needs to have a place when carrying out these reforms."

Masters said that the expansion of club and national team matches has forced the Premier League to start a week later than usual, canceling the winter break and demanding that the EFL cancel the cup rematch.

"It's not voluntary, it's the butterfly effect, different people, in different rooms, make decisions about the future of football and exclude the league from the scope of discussion.

By the way, this is not UEFA's duty. UEFA does consult directly with European leagues and the Premier League.

You can feel the impact of our voice on the final result. I may not agree completely, but at least you can see (the impact). This is not happening to FIFA at all."

Masters made the above remarks on FIFA's failure to consult with all football stakeholders, a few days after the International Association of Professional Football Players (FIFPro) released the latest annual player workload report, which says top stars have too many games, frequent trips, and insufficient rest.

However, FIFA has repeatedly denied that it is responsible for the increasing workload of players, noting that UEFA has expanded the size of club matches and increased the number of overseas friendly matches played by top clubs between seasons and even mid-seasons.

is not without reason. During the Q&A session of Thursday's meeting, Masters proudly spoke about the pre-season friendly matches held in Asia and North America over the past two decades.

He was also asked about the Premier League's attempt to replace its profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR) with a UEFA-style "team cost" system. The Premier League has been working hard to convince its clubs to make this change for more than a year, but so far, there has not been enough consensus to even put the idea into a vote.

The most recent attempt to reach a consensus was at last week's league shareholders' meeting, but as several clubs remain unhappy with the planned changes, the parties agreed to postpone the vote on the new rules until the next meeting in November.

The Premier League proposal is to abolish PSR. PSR stipulates that clubs can only lose up to £105 million in three years.

The new regulations will require that clubs can only use 85% of their total revenue to pay first-team players’ wages, amortized transfer fees and broker fees. UEFA's player salary cap is set at 70%.

"We are discussing alternatives with clubs, which is not to say that we don't think the PSR system does not work - it is to be more in line with European regulation.

The Premier League version of PSR will be 85% limit because we always want our club to have investment capabilities. So if we compare 85% of the Premier League system (if it does happen) with other European big leagues, you will find that our system is more relaxed.

Some people might say, this is too loose. It's a matter of personal choice. The Premier League is based on supporting investment (and) inflows of international capital. We don't want these investments to be hindered."