MANCHESTER, England — (AP) — One of the most striking moments of soccer in 2024 was when Rodri hobbled onto a stage in Paris on crutches to receive the prestigious Ballon d'Or for best male player of the year.
The Manchester City and Spain midfielder had been one of the most outspoken critics against the increasingly congested soccer calendar, warning that the lack of downtime was detrimental to players' performance and health. Then, just a month before the Oct. 28 award ceremony, he tore his ACL during a seemingly routine run in a Premier League game against Arsenal.
Though such injuries have occurred throughout the history of the sport and aren’t necessarily linked to overplaying, Rodri’s season-ending injury became a visual representation of the physical toll of modern soccer at a time when the busy match schedule is facing legal challenges and the possibility of strike action.
Top footballers are now routinely playing more than 60 games per season for club and country, while the game is getting faster and more intense. Injuries are on the rise. Already pushed to their limits, some players say FIFA's newly expanded Club World Cup, to be held in the United States next year, is the last straw.
Players say they are “at breaking point, that they are at the limit, that it’s actually too much,” Alexander Bielefeld, from global players’ union FIFPRO, told The Associated Press.
The new Club World Cup is a supersized version of what used to be a short tournament with only seven teams. The new edition includes 32 teams from around the world and will be held every four years, starting next summer in the United States from June 14 to July 13. As its name suggests, it’s envisioned to be club version of the World Cup for national teams.
That means top players will have a monthlong tournament on top of their domestic league season three out of every four years. With more games also added to the Champions League in Europe this season as well as the next World Cup in 2026, the soccer calendar is filling up quickly.
“It’s something that worries us because we are the guys who suffer,” Rodri said in September, just days before he was injured. He said players may have no choice but to refuse to play if the trend continues.
He’s not the only one feeling frustrated.
In a post on X last year, Raphael Varane, a member of France's World Cup winning squad in 2018, said the schedule was putting players' physical and mental well-being at risk.
“Why are our opinions not being heard?” asked the 31-year-old Varane, who retired from the national team two years ago and from playing altogether in September this year following an injury.
In July, England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham described the schedule as “crazy.”
“It’s difficult on the body — mentally and physically you are exhausted,” he said after England was runner-up at the European Championship.
FIFPRO says a significant number of players routinely play 60-70 matches a season. The union's recommended limit is 55.
Last season Julian Alvarez played 75 games for former club Manchester City and Argentina in 10 different competitions spanning the Premier League, Champions League, Copa America and Olympics.
The season before, Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes played 70 times, including a run of 20 consecutive games.
The Men's European Football Injury Index, an annual report by global insurance broker Howden, found there were 4,123 injuries in the top divisions of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France last season. It said the number of injuries had risen year-on-year since the index was first published in 2021 and that "it would be fair to expect a continuation of this upwards trajectory."
Tony Strudwick, medical director for West Bromwich Albion and former head of performance for Manchester United, said injuries are on the rise despite advancements in sports science and medicine.
“That to me looks like there’s a mismatch between what the players can physically tolerate and what they’ve been exposed to,” he told The AP. “During the last eight seasons, incidents of hamstring injuries, in particular, have increased.”
Strudwick said the risk of too many games was ultimately injury and burnout. But he said players are unlikely to raise the issue with their clubs or national teams.
“Players are very reluctant to say they don’t want to play and they’re very, very tired. It takes a relatively brave person to do that,” he said.
Manchester City played 61 games in the 2022-23 campaign when it won a trophy treble of the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
This season that number could rise to 71 because of an expanded group stage and potential playoff in the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
A heavy workload is also an issue in women's soccer, FIFPRO said earlier this week, though it noted that while some top players have a packed schedule, others don't get to play enough.
If successful, the Club World Cup could rival the Premier League and Champions League as one of the most lucrative and watched tournaments in club soccer. It has been backed by clubs and next year’s event is set to feature many of the biggest names in the sport, including Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr.
Coming at the end of many leagues’ regular season, FIFA said the dates would be “harmoniously aligned with the international match calendar” to ensure sufficient rest for players ahead of the start of domestic campaigns.
The governing body has also set up a player welfare task force to be led by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
FIFPRO, which says it represents more than 66,000 players around the world, is not convinced. In October, its European division teamed up with domestic leagues and filed a legal complaint in Europe against how FIFA adds new and bigger men's competitions to the calendar.
FIFA hit back, noting that European clubs often fill their summer breaks with exhibition matches around the world. It accused some European leagues of acting with "hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world."
Gelson Fernandes, a Swiss former player who now works for FIFA with the title Director Member Associations Africa, said that calendar congestion is an issue only for a limited number of players who consistently go deep into tournaments with their clubs and countries. Rodri, who won Euro 2024 with Spain this year, and Alvarez, who helped Argentina triumph at the last World Cup, are two such high-profile examples.
“So it’s a small group of players, that minimum percentage of them, which are affected,” Fernandes told The AP. “And I don’t think we should stop a competition which will give dreams and hopes to millions and billions of people around the world for that.”
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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