The FIFA Club World Cup begins this Summer in the United States. The expanded 32-team tournament will be held between June 13th and July 13th, with sixty-three total matches to be played, up from the previous tournament’s seven, with UK online betting sites hoping to cash in on the participation of Premier League sides: Chelsea and Manchester City.
Despite the protestations of football player unions and national associations, the expanded football schedule means that some players, who have not had a break since Summer 2023, will likely be playing football until Summer 2027.
As much as the “my heart bleeds” brigade will point to excessive player wages as a justification for being able to play 24/7, the understandable concern is about consistency and being capable of playing at the highest level, or simply getting injured. Desire Doue at PSG has played 51 matches at the time of writing this season, which could rise to 65 if the Parisienne side reaches both the Champions League and World Club Cup final.
You may look at the above and suggest it’s hyperbole, but look at the most famous case this season, Rodri. A fundamental asset to the Manchester City and Spain sides, who had played 238 times for club and country in the four seasons before 2024/25. I’m no doctor, but it does not take too much thought to appreciate that the excess workload would have contributed to his injury.
Even before the implementation of this new format, concerns had been raised, with both the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024 events marked by many absentee stars through injury, so to add more to the calendar seems illogical to do, but unfortunately, FIFA’s drive to push football to new frontiers (which in itself is a noble effort), comes at the detriment of players, who are already pushed by clubs into Asian and North American tours at the end of a gruelling season, with Manchester United summing up this craziness perfectly, as they will play Aston Villa in the final league match of the season, before playing in Kuala Lumpur three days later!
The above, combined with squad limits imposed on clubs both domestically and in international competitions by the powers that be, clearly shows a lack of understanding by clubs and the governing bodies in understanding players’ physical and mental capacity to play week in and week out at the expected level, especially in a year-long calendar and the constant chase for revenue.
And before you suggest “resting players” for this tournament, check out Article 4.2 (section d:) of the FIFA World Club Cup 2025 regulations, which states, “By signing the Participation Agreement, each participating club automatically undertakes to: field their strongest team throughout the Competition!
So clubs are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Regarding the tournament itself, the top European sides should have enough squad depth to rotate, with head coaches and managers helping to reduce the risk to a minimum, but if Real Madrid were to lose Vini Jr or Man City lose Erling Haaland to a long-term injury, the conversation about player safety will once again become cacophonous around FIFA’s Zurich headquarters, to the point where Gianni Infantino will not be able to simply ignore the pleas of player unions by closing his eyes and keeping his fingers firmly wedged in his ears!
