The 85-games-season
The Premier League's top players could play up to 85 matches in the mammoth 2024/25 season. Players and coaches are complaining - and the players' union has announced a complaint against FIFA.
Ahead of the Premier League season opener this weekend, Rúben Dias, the defender of English champions Manchester City, posted a Power Point page from a team meeting. It shows the 2024/2025 football fixture list for him and his teammates, from the European Championship 2024 to the newly launched Club World Cup 2025 with 32 teams in the USA. If, as has almost always been the case, the club plays for all the titles right to the end this season, coach Pep Guardiola's team will be facing an unprecedented 75-game season. The matches are spread across six competitions: Community Shield (1), Premier League (38), EFL Cup (6), FA Cup (6), Champions League (17) and Club World Cup (7). For the international players, there are also five international match blocks with a total of ten games.
City colored the matchdays in bright colors, depending on the competition, while the non-match days remained white. There are no gaps in the schedule, with three games scheduled for each week. Compared to last year, the new Champions League round-robin format requires two additional matches in January and, if necessary, a play-off round before the round of 16. At the end of the season, the competitions even overlap on two weekends. Two buffer zones in April and May have been kept free as alternative dates for this, they are the last placeholders in the schedule - and they only exist because the English FA recently abolished replays in the cup for the first time at the insistence of the top clubs.
Guardiola leaves it up to his national team players to decide when they start training
Dias commented on the program smugly with a smiling smiley with drops of sweat. The longest football season ever awaits the club players in the Premier League, but for the national team players among them, it already began a year ago, so to speak. They will be playing virtually from 2023 to 2027 due to the 2024 European Championship, the 2025 Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup. This summer, the professionals involved in the European Championship final only had one month between the seasons. At least three weeks would actually be required for recovery and another four weeks for preparation.
For this reason, the usually strict Guardiola left it up to his international players to decide when to start training; they should only return to Manchester when they felt the desire to touch the ball, he decreed. After all, he could demand little from players who were too exhausted to train properly; since the powerful football association bosses hardly give a thought to the players’ health, the managers would have to do that, Guardiola raged.
The majority of his team have now been preparing for this season for a week and a half. European champion Rodri was the last international to arrive last Wednesday, four days before the first league game at Chelsea FC this Sunday. In the spring, the Spaniard had complained to his club that his number of appearances over the years was “not healthy” and could not continue in the long term. During the European Championship, Rodri added that he had reached the point where he simply couldn't go on.
The Premier League resembles a survival of the fittest
European top-flight football is heading dangerously towards player burnout, and this is most evident in the competitive Premier League, which has no winter break. The game is increasingly resembling a survival of the fittest: Only the players who best manage their strength hold out. This is one of the reasons why Manchester City, which has the broadest squad in England and plays the most economical football, recently won the championship four times in a row. The overloading of the players and the resulting risk of injury are becoming increasingly apparent. City stars Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland asked to be substituted before extra time in the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid. In doing so, they sent out an alarm signal: we are exhausted and can no longer hold out, not even for half an hour in extra time.
And at the European Championship in Germany, none of the so-called world-class players came close to their top form, with many even falling well short of expectations. England internationals Jude Bellingham of Real Madrid and Harry Kane of FC Bayern blamed their poor form for this. Bellingham said he was “mentally and physically drained” and felt “like dead”; and Kane spoke of a “really tough tournament, mentally and physically” - and was not referring to the bitter defeat to Spain in the final. You could see from the players' faces how “tired” they were, Haaland said. He himself had not qualified for the European Championship with Norway and was able to take a break during the tournament.
At 24, Mbappé had almost 50 percent more playing time than Henry had two decades ago at same age
The international players’ union Fifpro published a report on the workload of top players in 2023, which illustrates the rapid increase in playing minutes with two striking examples: Bellingham, 21, had played 14,445 professional minutes by his 20th birthday, more than 30 percent more than the comparably talented Wayne Rooney a decade and a half ago at the same age. And Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, 25, had almost 50 percent more playing time by the time he turned 24 than his compatriot Thierry Henry two decades ago. The players in England, who were used by far the most at the 2022 World Cup compared to their colleagues from other countries, are usually particularly affected. Premier League managing director Richard Masters believes the expansion of international competitions has reached a tipping point. He compared the situation to a glass that is full and overflowing - and yet liquid continues to be poured into it unperturbed.
In July, Fifpro, together with an umbrella organization for the European leagues, announced that it would submit a formal complaint to the EU Commission against the world football association Fifa on competition law grounds. In the letter, they accuse Fifa of having “repeatedly favored its own competitions and commercial interests and harmed the economic interests of the national leagues and the welfare of the players” with its decisions. They also criticize Fifa for refusing to involve leagues and trade unions “in the decision-making process when designing the international match calendar”.
The players’ union Fifpro announces a complaint against Fifa in front of the EU Commission
The world governing body firmly rejected the criticism - and claimed that the match schedule had been approved unanimously. According to ESPN, Fifpro and the European Leagues were indeed involved in the consultations. However, this did not include the controversial Club World Cup at the time. Fifa also countered that some leagues in Europe were acting “out of commercial self-interest, hypocritically and without regard for anyone else”. They apparently preferred “a calendar of test matches and summer tours”, a spokesperson said. Fifa was alluding to the intercontinental marketing trips of the top clubs - although there is now hardly any room left in the calendar for this either.
A long vacation for the players will not be possible until 2027
In contrast to the players and coaches, the club officials have so far kept a low profile in this dispute. They seem to be caught between two stools because they probably share the players’ concerns, but are just as dependent on TV revenue and prize money - in order to meet the sometimes enormous salary demands of the kicking staff. However, revenues could soon suffer if the quality of the games drops significantly. FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski recently said that players try to be machines on the pitch. But at the end of the day, they are just people who need time to recover.
The football-free summer of 2027 will be the first time for a long vacation - although players should take out travel cancellation insurance when booking. After all, it cannot be ruled out that another competition will be added by then.