WJR News

Manchester City midfielder and Belgium captain Kevin De Bruyne (33) said money talks louder to FIFA and UEFA as he raised concerns over the impact of a crammed calendar on players’ health and performance.

All three European club competitions have been expanded to 36 teams this season and FIFPRO’s European member unions have started legal action against FIFA over the expanded men’s 32-team Club World Cup, starting next June in the United States.

De Bruyne was asked if he is concerned about the added fixtures in both club and international competitions. “The real problem will emerge after the Club World Cup,” De Bruyne told reporters ahead of Friday’s Nations League match against Israel.

“We know there will be only three weeks between the Club World Cup final and the first Premier League match. So, we have three weeks to rest and prepare for another 80 matches.”

FIFPRO, the football players’ union, announced that it is submitting a complaint to EU antitrust regulators concerning FIFA’s international match calendar in July.

A statement published by FIFPRO on Thursday stated that certain athletes only have 12% of the year to recuperate, as a consequence of competition organizers neglecting player well-being.

“Maybe this year things will be okay, but next year could be problematic. The Professional Footballers’ Association in England and other player associations have tried to find solutions,” he added.

“The issue is that UEFA and FIFA keep adding extra matches, and we can raise concerns, but no solutions have been found. It seems that money speaks louder than the players’ voices.”

According to a report from the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), there is no conclusive evidence demonstrating a significant increase in the workload of elite players since the 2000s.

The independent research centre in Switzerland, which was founded in 1995 in a joint venture including FIFA, reported reigning Club World Cup champions City played nearly 63% of their official matches in league-organised competitions during the 2023-2024 season.

Club friendlies accounted for 4.8% of City’s total games while FIFA-organised fixtures made up 3.2% and UEFA matches represented 17.7%.

Last season, English teams played 87 consecutive domestic matches, which is the highest among the top European leagues. Premier League clubs had the shortest average recovery time between games at 67.3 hours.