Professional footballers are calling for a limit to the number of back-to-back games they are required to play amidst increasing concerns about burnout. A survey by the global players’ union FIFPro revealed that almost nine out of every ten players polled believe that the maximum should be six games or fewer, and that the maximum number of matches any of their members should play in a season is 55.
The organisation claims to have widespread support from managers and coaches within the game who claim that players are being pushed to the limits – and in some cases – beyond their physical limits. Their claims are also backed up by data, provided by the analytics company Football Benchmark.
It highlights the fact that both Mo Salah and Sadio Mané, both of whom are likely to feature in Saturday’s Champions League final, will be playing their 70th game of the season. They have played 60% of those games back to back – consecutive appearances of at least 45 minutes, with fewer than five days in between. The pair may not even finish their season on Saturday in Paris. There are still African Cup of Nations qualifiers to come next month, where they must expect to have some involvement.
Half of the players surveyed said that what breaks they did get were often infringed up by the clubs or national sides. And almost half the responders would like to see longer but less frequent international breaks in order to cut down the travelling involved. Salah and Mané have clocked up an average of 90,000 kilometres of travel between them since the start of the season.
With football looking to increase the number of games played, however – with the expansion of the Champions League, to proposed or expanded competitions by both FIFA and UEFA – they seem deaf top the complaints of those tasked with delivering the product, in marketing terms.
The ultimate losers may be the fans. They will either see players physically exhausted or have to contend themselves with patched-up sides because star players are all in the treatment room.