Manchester City player Kevin De Bruyne. (FILE Photo)
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne slammed the UEFA and FIFA about the football calendar. Ahead of Belgium’s UEFA Nations League game against Israel, he said “It seems money speaks louder than the players.”
“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,” the 32-year-old said.
All the UEFA club competitions are extended to 36 teams from 32 and the number of games in the tournament has increased. “Maybe this year things will be OK, but next year could be problematic. The Professional Footballers’ Association in England and other player associations have tried to find solutions,” said the Belgian.
“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,” he added.
Earlier De Bruyne’s colleague at Manchester City, Bernardo Silva expressed his displeasure towards the calendar. “The schedule is completely crazy,” he said. “We’ve just received the news that we only have one day off for the English League Cup game.
“We’ll probably play every three days for months. It’s been absolutely absurd’. ‘In the Champions League, if you don’t qualify for the round of 16 you still have to play two more games,” he added.
The 30-year-old old further said, “It’s true that the squads are bigger, but I’m not going to say that it’s easy. It hasn’t been easy. I spend very little time with my family and friends. The amount of games we’re subjected to is absolutely absurd.”
Last season, England recorded the highest number of domestic back-to-back matches (87) among top European leagues, with Premier League clubs averaging the shortest recovery time between games at 67.3 hours.
A report released by FIFPRO on Thursday said some players have as little as 12% of the year to rest, which is a result of competition organisers not prioritising player welfare.
(With Agency inputs)
