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Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has ruled out any plans to cut the top-flight division from 20 to 18 clubs.
Masters’ assertion is seen as a push back against increasing pressure from FIFA over the expanding international football calendar.
Naija News reports that the 2025-2026 Premier League season is set to kick off on 15 August, barely three weeks after Chelsea lifted the Club World Cup trophy and two weeks after the final Summer Series match.
Amid that, the Premier League is preparing for a gruelling 11-month campaign that ends with the World Cup final in the United States on 19 July.
Despite growing concerns over fixture congestion and player burnout, Masters insisted the domestic game must not be sacrificed for global tournaments.
“I don’t think we should be forced into that decision,” Masters told BBC Sport. “I am all for the growth of the game and the exciting competitions our clubs can participate in, but not at the expense of domestic football.”
Unlike Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1, which both reduced their top flights to 18 teams for the 2023-2024 season, Masters said the Premier League has no intention of following suit.
The English league has featured 20 clubs and 380 matches per season since 1994, a format that Masters says remains essential to its competitive integrity.
The comments come amid simmering tensions between FIFA, FIFPro (the global players’ union), and domestic leagues.
At the heart of the issue is FIFA’s decision to expand the Club World Cup to 32 teams and the upcoming World Cup, which for the first time will feature 48 nations.
FIFPro and domestic leagues have repeatedly raised alarms over the growing workload being placed on elite players.
Manchester City’s Rodri even floated the possibility of a player strike last year, citing the unsustainable increase in match demands.
Masters echoed these concerns, accusing FIFA of pushing through major changes without proper consultation.
“There has to be, at the top of the game, a proper dialogue between FIFA and all the stakeholders about how these things go forward,” he said. “That has been sadly missing.”
Recall that UEFA expanded its three club competitions last season, forcing changes like scrapping FA Cup replays and splitting Carabao Cup fixtures across two midweeks in September.
Masters acknowledged that at least European bodies included league input in their decisions, something he claims FIFA has failed to do.
“It is my job to assess whether these new competitions have an impact on the domestic calendar and domestic competitions, of which the Premier League is one,” he said. “Now we are starting to redesign our domestic calendar at the altar of European and global expansion.”
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