FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - LaLiga - Osasuna v FC Barcelona - El Sadar Stadium, Pamplona, Spain - November 8, 2022 FC Barcelona's Gerard Pique during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Vincent West/File Photo
LONDON (Reuters) - Football's governing bodies should not introduce new competitions and top-flight leagues should reduce the number of teams they have to ease the fixture burden on players, former Barcelona and Spain defender Gerard Pique said on Wednesday.
Pique's comments came in the same week FIFPRO Europe, the European Leagues association and Spain's LaLiga filed a joint complaint about FIFA's international match schedule to European Union antitrust regulators.
FIFA has introduced a new Club World Cup featuring 32 teams from next year and has enlarged the World Cup to 48 teams from 2026. UEFA also increased the number of matchdays in the Champions League from this season and introduced the Nations League in 2018.
Pique said it was the responsibility of all football organisations to find a solution.
"There are too many games, and we are seeing now players saying 'listen, we are getting injured. There are games every three days, we don't have time to rest in summer'," the 37-year-old told The Summit, part of Leaders Week London.
"I would suggest to reduce the games," he added when asked what he would do if he were in charge of global football. "Go to the leagues and say, 'listen, instead of 20 teams, why you don't do leagues of 16 teams...
"And at the same time, I would go to UEFA and say, 'why you create this Nations League, which is the new competition that is difficult to follow' and I will go to FIFA and say, 'okay, don't do this FIFA World Cup of clubs that you created now'...
"I understand that they want to generate more revenues, but for the sake of football, I think that it could be much better to have less games, more premium and more exclusive (experiences) and it will be much easier also to follow from the audience point of view, and for players it will be less games."
Pique, who retired in 2022, won nine LaLiga titles and three Champions League crowns at Barcelona and now owns the seven-a-side football-gaming-entertainment venture.
(Reporting by Christian Radnedge,; Editing by Ed Osmond)
