Scarcity is once what made football a precious commodity with the league season running for eight months of the year. The three European competitions were organised exclusively on a knock-out basis. Until 1982 the World Cup featured only 16 participants.
The European Championships followed the same format with a round robin group stage and then a straight knock out. Today, the game is awash with fixtures as the governing bodies squeeze every drop of revenue from broadcasters and sponsors.
The World Cup finals now has 32 competing nations whilst the European Championship has 24. In 2025 the Club World Cup will be expanded to 32 entrants and played across the summer, adding yet more games to the schedule of top clubs.
From next season the Champions League will be expanded to 36 clubs in the group stage. No longer will clubs be set in cosy groups of four playing six games each.
One League will operate on a convoluted system where a club will play eight different opponents, four at home and four away. Opponents will be drawn from four seeding pots, meaning clubs will test themselves against varying levels of opposition.
The top eight will qualify for the round of 16. Clubs that finish between ninth and 24th will compete in a two leg play-off to complete the round of sixteen. The three European competitions still offer progression for the smaller more ambitious clubs; so there can be no accusations of a European Super League by stealth.
So what exactly is the problem with these additional games? It will only affect the top six teams who have squads large enough to cope with more fixtures. Squad rotation and multiple substitutions will ensure players sustain fewer injuries. Yet Fifpro, the international players union, are concerned by the threat to player’s health.
Union president David Terrier said there was an emergency around the growing physical and mental fatigue of players. How does he keep a straight face with the stench of farmyard animals in his nostrils? These are elite athletes at the peak of physical fitness, or so we’re led to believe.
They have an army of doctors, nutritionists and fitness coaches to keep them in shape. Players benefit from flat pitches and streamlined kits. Balls are lighter and reduce the effect of concussion injuries. Money drives this argument so let’s talk about the salaries players earn. Salaries that could wipe out the debt of a third world country.
Salaries funded by TV companies who pay to screen the extra matches they so bitterly oppose. At a conservative estimate top players earn in the region of £200,000 per week. Using that as a ballpark figure their earnings from football alone amount to £9.6 million a year.
Sponsorship, endorsements and image rights will add another £2 million but let’s round it up to £12 million annually. Tax and other deductions will bring their annual salary down to around £5 million a year. Compare that to a nurse on £23,000 a year working 12 hour shifts. Or a police officer earning £36,000 annually.
Someone who faces danger on a regular basis to keep the public safe. Firefighters routinely enter burning buildings to save lives all for £41,000 a year. Are footballers quite so badly off? Some might say it’s the green eyed monster rearing its ugly head, but jealousy doesn’t even enter the equation.
If I were a professional player, I would happily take the going rate but wouldn’t be bleating about the number of games I have to play. I would be thanking my good fortune in reaching financial security by my mid-twenties.
PFA Chief Executive Maheta Molango has also waded into the argument. The BBC reported that Molango had asked players how far they wanted to go. Some of them said ‘I’m not having it, we may as well strike. What’s the point. Yes, I’m a millionaire, but I don’t even have time to spend the money’ I’m sure our hearts go out to them.
The comments of Terrier and Molango are counter productive and gloss over the real issue, which isn’t related to players’ health or the risk of injury. They can say they’re injured and need to come off at any time. At a recent Champions League game Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland asked to be substituted because they were tired.
Pep Guardiola meekly agreed to this request. Players are just as likely to get injured during training or when they’re warming up. So the increased risk of injury through more game time is a red herring. The problem lies with the sheer logistics of staging more fixtures. Games will become sterile and dull; players will be bored and disinterested.
They will simply go through the motions and lose the sense of occasion. It will eventually dilute the experience of performing at top level, devoid of adrenaline and inspiration. For the fans it’s just another game they might catch whilst channel hopping. Football should be more than ‘wallpaper’ playing in the background?
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