Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber has joined voices calling for greater responsibility in football, saying FIFA must “think strategically about our sport” as disputes over an ever-expanding football calendar continue.
Garber said he was “excited” about the prospect of the new FIFA Club World Cup competition, due to take place in the US next summer, but at the same time he sympathized with those speaking out against the overload of matches, with the players’ union Fifpro. this week launched a legal challenge against the governing body over a lack of consultation over its expansion plans.
“The world is shrinking, and the sport is evolving with it,” Garber said at the Leaders Week conference in London. “I just want everyone to think about it carefully. Be strategic about it. Consider the impact of all these decisions on fans and stakeholders.
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“I watched very closely what happened with the reaction of the English fans and the reaction of the Premier League to the Super League. You have to think about it carefully and make sure that we make decisions, not for today, but that we make them with a view to a better future.
“I can’t criticize any other person. I’m not part of it [Fifa’s] decision-making process. All I can do is work very hard to meet FIFA’s leaders and make sure they are aware of the impact of their decisions. And I’m not just saying that about the global governing body. We all need to think about how to connect the dots, and that requires leadership and strategic thinking about our sport.”
The MLS will have two teams at the Club World Cup next summer, a competition that still has just a few months to go before the event must secure a broadcast deal. This week, La Liga president Javier Tebas said FIFA should cancel the tournament, but Garber has defended it. “We will have at least two teams in it and it will be very valuable for our teams,” he said. “We have tried hard to demonstrate our competitiveness compared to the rest of the world and the best way to do that is [through] to have our teams compete in meaningful competition against clubs outside Major League Soccer.
“There will be a lot of energy and a lot of momentum around building interest in the sport of football in the run-up to the World Cup; The Club World Cup will be one of those events, but I want to say that we all have to take the calendar into account and I understand Javier’s opinion. “I think we need to do everything we can to see whether or not we can be a more involved part of the decision-making process and I would take that into the Club World Cup.”