- New FIFPRO report underlines widespread player concerns over excessive workload in men’s football
- Some players get the equivalent of less than one full day off per week, contravening international health and safety standards
- Researchers from Belgian University KU Leuven commissioned to undertake study on working lives of professional footballers
FIFPRO, the global representative for professional footballers, has published a report that underlines player concerns over excessive workload, growing intrusion into players' private lives, and a lack of player care by football governing bodies.
The 2023/24 Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) Report highlights the burden on players involved in multiple international tournaments that endangers their welfare, performance and career prospects.
Some players are seeing their time off fall to as little as 12 percent of the calendar year, the equivalent of less than one full day off per week, contravening international Occupational Safety and Health standards, amid a lack of appreciation by competition organisers of their welfare and an absence of coordinated calendar planning.
High number of players impacted by lack of player workload regulations
The report, prepared with Football Benchmark, reveals 54 percent of 1,500 players monitored faced excessive or high workload demands, with a significant number exceeding the recommended limits by medical experts. Specifically, almost a third (31 percent) of players were included in matchday squads for 55 or more games, while one in six (17 percent) made over 55 appearances. Almost a third (30 percent) of players endured sequences of at least six consecutive weeks of back-to-back games (two games or more per week).
2023/24 Men's Player Workload Monitoring Report
The report highlights the burden on men's players involved in multiple international tournaments that endangers their welfare, performance and career prospects.
Match calendar demands show extreme impact on players across the globe
The top 10 rankings within the PWM report show the significant workload pressure players are facing around the world.
- The extreme toll on players is exemplified by Julian Alvarez’s 75 appearances and 83 matchday squad inclusions for Manchester City and Argentina during the season.
- In one stark but not rare example, Takumi Minamino had just one day of recovery after returning from national duty with Japan in the Asian Cup before resuming club responsibilities with AS Monaco in Ligue 1. This shows the inadequate recovery time and lack of protocols players are exposed to between different competitions.
- Some players, such as Cristian Romero, covered over 162,000 kilometres in professional travel alone during the 2023/24 season, including many journeys across multiple time-zones, highlighting the demands of international competitions that are often overlooked by organisers.
FIFPRO Acting General Secretary Stephane Burchkalter said: "We are calling on football’s governing bodies to urgently intervene and establish regulations and collective procedures that protect player welfare. The physical and mental well-being of players must be a priority if we want to maintain the integrity of the game. The cannibalisation of the competition calendar is pushing players beyond their limits and is encroaching on their private lives. We need safeguards for players to limit their travel, ensure rest periods, and provide adequate recovery so they can reach peak performance."
Competition growth is a growing risk factor for players
The report shows how international competitions significantly contribute to time pressure on players. For players with excessive workload (defined as 55+ appearances), 30 percent of matches were international fixtures – with their club or national team – and 15 percent were with their national team. Because of major national team tournaments, up to 18 percent of a player's total annual working time in the 2023/24 season was spent in national team camps, or on national-team duties such as media and partnership activities.
In addition, the outlook for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons is for even more match congestion due to expanding international competitions. Actual player match load for those seasons is predicted to reach new heights with either close to or even more than 80 match appearances per season for some players, such as Federico Valverde (Real Madrid/Uruguay), Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan/Italy) and Phil Foden (Manchester City/England).
Absence of occupational health & safety oversight
The report underlines the need for a holistic understanding of what constitutes work for a professional football player, encompassing both club and international duties, travel demands, working time, and the critical need for recovery and rest.
Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Global Policy & Strategic Relations - Men’s Football, said: "The gap between those who plan and schedule complex international competitions and those who play and experience them has never been bigger, as was highlighted again by the latest remarks of players and coaches at the beginning of this season. It is crucial that we bridge that gap and start to prioritise player-centric health, wellbeing and performance."
Unilateral procedures by competition organisers to extend and create international competition formats have ignored domestic collective agreements on working time as well as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) legislation requirements, like the need to identify and assess risks related to the working lives of professional footballers.
Consequently, FIFPRO has now commissioned an independent study by researchers from Belgian University KU Leuven to critically examine whether and how OSH rules and standards are applied in the football industry. The research results will be published in the coming weeks.
