Manchester City midfielder Rodri has admitted that players are “close” to going on strike over the increasingly congested football calendar.
The expansion of the UEFA Champions League this season has added between two and four extra games, with some teams needing to play ten times to reach the last 16 in the new format.
This is also the season that FIFA will host its inaugural 32-team Club World Cup, spread over a full month in June and July and featuring continental champions from the last four seasons. But the annual December tournament still exists, instead rebranded to the FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
Add in the various international breaks across the campaign in September, October, November, March and June, and players are being pushed closer and closer to breaking point.
Rodri missed the first three games of the new campaign with a hamstring injury mere weeks after playing in the final of Euro 2024 and missing pre-season. If City and Spain reach the latter stages of all their respective competitions, he faces an 11-month season with nearly 80 games in total.
“Yes, I think we are close to [striking]. If it keeps this way we will have no other option. It is something that worries us,” Rodri said ahead of City’s Champions League opener against Inter.
“Between 40 and 50 is the amount of games in which a player can perform at the highest level. After that you drop because it is impossible to sustain the physical level. This year we are maybe going to go until 70 or maybe 80. In my humble opinion, I think it is too much.”
He continued: “Someone has to take care of us because we are the main characters of this, let’s say, sport, or business, whatever you want to call it. Not everything is about money or marketing. It is about the quality of the show. In my opinion, when I am not tired I perform better. If people want to see better football then we need to rest.”
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker has similarly complained about the schedule in light of the Champions League changes, while Carlo Ancelotti suggested that too many games already has been a contributing factor to Real Madrid’s injury problems.
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