Footballers are being “pushed beyond acceptable limits” by a “saturated” schedule in order to accommodate a mid-season World Cup, according to the players union Fifpro.
The tournament in Qatar begins on November 20.However, many domestic games will be played this weekend before players report to their national squads.
According to a Fifpro report, the “unsustainable” workload harms players’ physical and mental health and jeopardizes their “career longevity.”
With the introduction of new club and international tournaments such as the Nations League and Europa Conference League in recent years, the number of games has become more of an issue.
The comments from Fifpro are part of a report that will be released next week on player workload and how it has been impacted by the 2022 World Cup.
The following are the key findings that have been released: In many regions, additional fixtures have been crammed into an already saturated early part of this season, exposing players to increased risk; in other regions, players have been competitively underloaded due to insufficient calendar planning.
Significantly reduced preparation and recovery periods prior to and after the World Cup endanger player health and impede performance optimization.
According to the report, Tottenham and South Korean forward Son Heung-min played over 600 minutes of football in October, with games every three or four days.
According to the report, he has traveled more than 146,000 kilometers with club and country since the start of last season, crossing 132 time zones.
Son is questionable for the World Cup after breaking an eye socket in Tottenham’s win over Marseille on November 1.
According to the report, Senegal striker Sadio Mane played 93 competitive matches for Liverpool and Bayern Munich since the start of last season before suffering a knee injury against Werder Bremen on Wednesday, putting his World Cup participation in doubt.
Ref: BBC Sports
