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· 4 min read
As soccer fans enjoy a feast of games between the Euros and Copa América, professional players are accusing FIFA of being like that friend who asks you to haul a couch up to their sixth-floor walk-up. The umbrella org for European player unions, Fifpro Europe, recently sued FIFA over its plan to expand the Club World Cup that will take place in the US next summer during the off-season for club teams.
The beefed-up tournament will include 32 teams (instead of seven originally) from all over the world. FIFA envisions it as a global club contest as opposed to a regional one like Europe’s Champions League, but Fifpro thinks that bringing the Real Madrids of the world to face off against each other will only make players more burnt-out.
Let’s take a closer look at why European soccer legends are crying foul at the organization that’s trying to make the sport even more global than it already is.
With a greater number of games and tournaments than ever, today’s top players have a much more demanding schedule than soccer stars of the past.
LinkedIn grindset types would be especially proud of the 10 soccer stars who spent over 6,000 minutes on the field last year and the dozens who played most of their matches without the recommended five-day rest in between.
Despite advances in sports science and medicine, such intense play can take a physical and mental toll. Injuries (of the non-theatrical type) in the Premier League were up 11% during the last season compared with the previous one, according to the Premier Injuries website, which keeps track. Fifpro says that 43% of players reported experiencing extreme or increased mental fatigue in the 2022–23 season.
While many spectators might not have much sympathy for multimillionaires’ workloads, the players’ tight schedules have also meant that top players have to triage events they participate in. Lionel Messi angered fans in Hong Kong when he sat out an Inter Miami match there earlier this year, and he recently announced that he would not be competing for Argentina in the Paris Olympics next month.
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Sports healthcare experts expect that the intense amount of play will lead many of today’s stars to retire earlier than pros of previous generations.
Fifpro’s lawsuit adds to the question marks around the broadened tournament as FIFA tries to get the ball rolling.
Though FIFA is hopeful that the inclusion of teams from places where soccer is becoming more popular, like Saudi Arabia, will add to the tourney’s global appeal and commercial potential, industry observers say top players are a must to draw ratings.
While we know for sure Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, Al-Nassr, didn’t qualify for the Club World Cup, other big-name clubs, like Chelsea and PSG, did. But teams’ decision on whether to field household names might hinge on how much cash they take home for games and successes, according to The Athletic reporter Adam Crafton. At the moment, it’s still unclear how much FIFA will be paying clubs for participating in the tournament, as well as for advancing to its final stages.
One solution: Premier League manager Vincent Kompany, who was a former soccer star himself, proposed a workaround to the burnout issue last fall. He recommended capping the number of appearances players can make during a season.—SK
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