Premier League executives have stated that they will not "sacrifice themselves" to reduce the number of participating teams to 18 teams

Although the Premier League schedule is frequent and the players are full, Premier League CEO Masdas admitted that he did not consider reducing the number of Premier League teams from the current 20 teams to the 18 teams.

Take the Premier League as an example. After Chelsea and Manchester City had to deal with the full season last season, they would continue to go to the United States to compete in the Club World Cup. In addition, during the season, there are other front-line events and national team competition schedules to be taken into account. Premier League players need to play for 11 months and are busy for a long time. In order to reduce the burden on professional players, the number of teams in the French Ligue 1 has reduced the number of teams from 20 teams to 18 teams since the 2023/24 season. Many fans believe that other European leagues should also follow.

When asked whether the Premier League will be reduced from 20 to 18 teams, Richard Masters said: "I don't think we should be forced to make such a decision. I fully support the development of professional football and support our teams in the ability to participate in exciting games, but it cannot be at the expense of the domestic football league."

The game arrangements between FIFA and UEFA have been expanding in recent years. Masdas criticized the lack of effective communication between the two before the implementation: "My job is to evaluate whether new events will have an impact on domestic schedules and events. The Premier League is one of them. Since 1994, the Premier League has maintained 380 games and 20 teams have participated, and it has never changed. Now, in order to welcome the expansion of European and global competitions, we must start to redesign the domestic schedule... If players are required to play more games, FIFA and all stakeholders must have sufficient dialogue and consultation on how to implement these things, but unfortunately, there has been no communication now."