Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said in an Italian newspaper interview on Monday that the newly crowned European champions will refuse to play in the expanded Club World Cup next year.
"Players and clubs will not participate in that tournament," Ancelotti told Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
"A single Real Madrid match is worth €20 million (around R400 million) and FIFA wants to give us this amount for the entire Cup. So no. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation," the Italian coach added.
The expanded 32-team Club World Cup is proposed to take place next summer, adding to an already congested calendar for players.
England's Professional Footballers' Association has warned FIFA that players could go on strike.
Two weeks ago, PFA chief executive Maheta Molango recalled a recent conversation he had with players of an unnamed club.
"How far would you like to go?" Molango recounted asking the players, according to the BBC.
"Some of them said: 'I'm not having it, we may as well strike.'
"Some said: 'What's the point? Yes, I'm a millionaire, but I don't even have time to spend the money.'"
Molango added: "We have reached a point where we cannot discount any action."
Alexander Bielefeld, head of policy for FIFPRO, told the BBC the results of the the annual player workload review are "staggering".
He warned that it is going to only increase next season.
"We are ahead of the worst season in terms of new fixture calendar, with the new Uefa Champions League format kicking in and also the (expanded) Club World Cup entering the calendar," saoid Bielefeld.
"There is the ability to more evenly attribute workload and matches amongst players and also amongst young talent.
"We do not do it because the pressure — I think on everyone — is so high, even if medical staff advise the coach not to play the player or to sit him out. The pressure on the coaches and the player is so high that they will play anyway."
AFP