Longer seasons, shortened holidays and increasingly longer travels: the footballers ‘calendar is increasingly charged, especially with the first time clubs played for the first time this year, he reported Fifpro (the professional players’ union) in a report published on Monday (29).
PSG side (Paris Saint-Germain), Achraf Hakimi, who has played 53 matches in the 2023/24 season, raised the number 69 in the 2024/25 season: this increase is motivated by international club competitions, including the new World Cup played in the United States from June 14 to July 13 and where their team was runner-up.
The accumulation of matches generates risks to the health of the players, highlights the report, which cites the case of Spanish midfielder Rodrigo: After several years of overload, the steering wheel lost almost the entire season of a break from cross-ligaments, before injury again in the club cup, which deprived him of part of the preparation for the current season.
FIFPro also points to the short duration of the clubs that participated in the World Cup: none of them allowed its players to take 28 days, the duration recommended by the union.
The union also indicates that 28 days should be the time of a preseason of the clubs, something that, in the case of PSG, was only 7 days, and Chelsea, champion of the 13-day Club World Cup.
A minimum weekly rest day
Several players or coaches recently criticized the calendar’s overload, such as Barcelona French defender Jules Koundé or Real Madrid’s compatriot and striker Kylian Mbappé.
“It is not a matter only of the number of matches, it is more a matter of recovery. There must be a little more rest, vacation to regenerate the body and to digest this load of matches,” said Mbappé in early September.
FIFPro also requests that there will be a compulsory break of one week in the middle of the season and the imposition of a minimum weekly rest of rest or specific guarantees on the workload of footballers under 18 years.
A year of the US World Cup coorganized by Mexico and Canada, FIFPro also warns of risks related to scorching temperatures experienced in some matches of the recent Club World Cup, which was “a real problem,” according to the president of FIFA (International Football Federation), Gianni Infantino.
