Club World Cup cash row: Seattle Sounders take fight to MLS
A cash row has broken out over this month’s Fifa Club World Cup, with Major League Soccer’s player union backing protests led by the Seattle Sounders.
Sounders players wore T-shirts bearing the slogan “Club World Cash Grab” before their fixture against Minnesota United on Sunday to show their discontent with the proportion of prize money being shared with them by MLS chiefs.
The MLS Players Association has been quick to back their stance, accusing MLS of “ignoring longstanding international standards on what players typically receive from Fifa prize money in global competitions”.
“The MLSPA and all MLS players stand united with the Seattle Sounders players who tonight demanded a fair share of the Fifa Club World Cup prize money,” the union said.
“Fifa’s new tournament piles on to players’ ever-increasing workload without regard to their physical well-being. In order to seize this additional calendar territory, Fifa had to commit historic amounts of prize money to secure club and player participation.
“As a result, MLS will receive an unprecedented financial windfall. Despite this windfall, the league has refused to allocate a fair percentage of those funds to the players themselves.”
Seattle Sounders are one of three MLS teams, with Inter Miami and Los Angeles FC, in the new-look Club World Cup, which has expanded to 32 teams and will take place in the summer every four years.
Manchester City and Chelsea are the Premier League’s representatives, while other European entrants include Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
Fifa has put up $1bn in prize money, which is heavily weighted to teams from the biggest leagues, meaning that England’s representatives could win close to £100m.
The MLSPA added: “For months, the players have privately and respectfully invited the league to discuss bonus terms, yet MLS has failed to bring forward a reasonable proposal.
“Instead of recognizing the players who have brought MLS to the global stage, the league – which routinely asks the PA to deviate from the CBA – is clinging to an out-of-date CBA provision and ignoring longstanding international standards on what players typically receive from Fifa prize money in global competitions.
“It is the players who make the game possible. It is the players who are lifting MLS up on the global stage. They expect to be treated fairly and with respect.”