“Madness.” Jules Koundé of Barcelona and France spoke for his profession. “If it keeps this way, there will be a moment where we have no other option.”
Koundé backed Manchester City’s Rodri in raising complaints against the workload of elite professionals in Europe. There is serious talk of a players’ strike. The Spain midfielder, second-favourite for 2024’s Ballon d’Or, is prepared to man the barricades. “There will be a moment where we have no other option, but let’s see, it’s something that worries us because we are the ones who suffer,” he said.
City’s anchorman played 63 matches for club and country, 6,107 minutes, in the 2023-24 season, his summer’s rest and delayed start to this season coming after a hamstring pull in the Euro 2024 final. A couple of his colleagues had heavier workloads: Phil Foden was included in 77 match-day squads and made 72 appearances; Julián Álvarez, now of Atlético Madrid, was included in 83 match-day squads and made 75 appearances.
Any strike, itself a complicated process, would be organised by Fifpro, the global players’ union, an organisation sounding increasingly militant. No club partisanship here: Liverpool’s Alisson backed City’s Rodri, and the Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, echoed Barça’s Koundé: “I call for people to think about cutting the number of games, to have more attractive competitions.”
The 2026 World Cup has been extended to 48 teams, up from 32, while Uefa’s Champions League and Europa League competitions are revamped to include eight group-stage games involving 36 teams, extending into late January, before the knockouts begin. That arduous whittling-down process resembles the NFL’s regular season. Uefa’s Nations League has curtailed “pointless” friendlies but its competitive edge places greater weight on international coaches to play their best players.
The key battleground, however, is Fifa’s incursion into club football, the enlargement of its previously bijou, straight knockout Club World Cup into a 32-team summer tournament, planned for the United States next year.
Beyond the confirmation of Gala’s Freed From Desire as the official anthem, details remain sketchy, with no venues confirmed, no tickets on sale. Saudi money is expected to fund Fifa’s grand plan should the Gulf state wins its uncontested bid to host the 2034 World Cup.
If the invitation list is largely clear, recent messaging has been mixed. “A single Real Madrid match is worth €20m and Fifa wants to give us that amount for the whole cup,” Ancelotti told an Italian newspaper in June. “Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation.” That Ancelotti and Madrid swiftly performed a reverse ferret – “at no time has there been any question regarding our participation” – did not lower eyebrows.
A competition too far? Fifpro’s stats appear damning. “Some players are seeing their time off fall to as little as 12% of the calendar year, the equivalent of less than one full day off per week, contravening international health and safety standards,” is its top bullet point. Its Football Benchmark survey states: “54% of 1,500 players monitored faced excessive or high workload demands, with a significant number exceeding the recommended limits by medical experts.”
To corroborate, a recent report from the Football Observatory at the International Centre for Sports Studies in Switzerland states: “0.31% of players played 61 or more matches per season, and another 1.8% played 51 to 60 matches, and another 6.8% played 41 to 50 matches per season.” In short, elite footballers are the most stretched, more at risk of injury, and in danger of having careers curtailed. Reaching the pinnacle may represent the highest threat to longevity.
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After a Euros that was low on entertainment, the Premier League campaign yet to catch alight and last week’s Champions League rollout failing to excite, has the game already been diluted? Or are the governing bodies entitled to think that rotations of vast, expensive squads could ease the problem?
During City’s mournful 0-0 draw with Inter on Wednesday, the bench included Foden, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes. Rodri is playing for the club most capable of giving him a rest, and yet his manager chooses not to. “No, there will not be a solution because there is no intention to find a solution,” Pep Guardiola said during City’s US tour. “The clubs have to travel to make our brand around the world, to let other continents and places see our players, and we have to adapt.”
The equations are clear. City and their peers undertake continent-straddling, money-spinning pre-season tours, having signed up to domestic schedules, taking the extra money from Uefa’s distended competitions, using the TV money to help pay agents’ ever-increasing wage demands for their clients.
Now players are feeling the burn so significantly as to consider striking, will football’s powerbrokers take notice? A financial solution can’t solve a physical problem but then again, there is no known cure for football’s thirst for money.