FIFA, European clubs to open peace talks

FIFA will meet European football clubs next week to begin solving their long-running dispute over top players' international workload.

The club vs. country divide has seen the European Club Association ask players to prioritize national leagues and the Champions League above FIFA's desire for stars to peak at the World Cup and take part in the Olympic Games.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said on Thursday talks to seek a balance will begin in Zurich on Tuesday.

Blatter said FIFA vice president Michel Platini — the head of Champions League organizer UEFA who is a close ally of ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge — also will attend.

The summit takes place one month after the 197-member ECA group revealed its frustration with FIFA's apparent stalling and called on football's governing body to be more democratic.

Clubs were upset that Blatter talked freely in public of a possible winter slot for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar that would wreak havoc on the traditional European club season.

Describing European football as "the heart of the game," ECA members called on FIFA to consult them before loading the international calendar with more match dates that demand they release their employees to national teams, and often get them back injured.

Clubs want to cut the minimum three dates each year for international friendlies they regard as meaningless, disruptive for clubs and exhausting for players.

Blatter acknowledged on Thursday that the calendar was "a sports political matter."

He has previously called on 20-team European leagues — such as the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga — to be reduced to 18 and ease players' workload.

"If there is such a movement of the clubs to take over not only the international calendar, but also in all the organization of football, then where are the national teams?" he said after a meeting of FIFA's ruling executive committee.

"If you take away the importance of national teams then something is wrong."

Blatter said the debate that begins next Tuesday would soon be widened to include other continents' clubs.