FIFPRO has today released their Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) Report 2024 - Excessive Workload Demands: Player Performance, Recovery and Health, a data-driven report analysing the excessive workload of men’s players globally during the 2023/24 season.
The report reaffirms concerns voiced by footballers – including Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodri – on the congested match calendar and the lack of player care by football's governing bodies.
The report, which was developed by FIFPRO Player IQ, in collaboration with Football Benchmark, highlights the unsustainable burden on players that risks harming their welfare, performance, and career prospects alike. FIFPRO breaks down seven key learnings from the report.
1) Players and experts continue to call for safeguards
“To ignore the consequence of the number of games and amount of travelling will end in injuries for any player,” is the verdict of Uruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa.
The Argentinian is not the only manager who feels that way: 78 percent of coaches surveyed support the implementation of a guaranteed rest period, along with 72 percent of players. Player voices have grown even louder over the past season, with a host of leading players passionately calling for change.
2) Excessive workload demands far exceed recommended limits
It is now clear that excessive workload and calendar congestion have become issues affecting a wider demographic of professional players globally. FIFPRO’s Player Workload Monitoring tool, which monitors 1500 players spread across the globe, revealed that 54 percent experienced excessive or high workload demands during the 2023/24 season.
Thirty-one percent of players had more than 55 matchday squad inclusions. Among them was Real Madrid and Spain defender Dani Carvajal. He said: “It’s impossible to be at full capacity with 72 plus games. I think the appropriate bodies should analyse this because it’s practically impossible. The quality of the game drops, and we suffer, along with our families.”
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.
3) Global calendar demands show extreme impact on players
Argentinian striker Julian Alvarez had little respite in a campaign where he amassed a staggering 83 squad inclusions due to the cannibalisation of the match calendar; after his club campaign with former side Manchester City, Alvarez had dual international commitments in the form of the Copa America and Olympic Football Tournament.
Alvarez’s former club manager Pep Guardiola said: “During 11 months it is games, games, games. Before, pre-season was four or five weeks. Now, we have 10 days. We want to play football and enjoy it, but we have to reduce it. It’s too much.
Similarly, player rest, recovery and travel demonstrated worrying trends once again.
4) International competitions have substantial impact on players
Travelling for continental and international competitions meant that leading players spent 88 percent of their time in the workplace environment during the 2023/24 season. Indeed, 30 percent of matches for players with excessive workload were continental club competitions or international matches.
“The schedule is very tough, especially for those of us from South America because we have 12-hour flights there and 12-hour flights back. There are times when it’s too much for our bodies,” said Uruguay international Federico Valverde.
5) Unprecedented risks for young players
Today’s leading young footballers are racking up minutes at an alarming rate compared to players just two decades ago. To put it into context, Jude Bellingham played 251 competitive games before reaching the age of 21; David Beckham in comparison played 54. Meanwhile, Germany’s Florian Wirtz has amassed more than double the playing minutes (11,501) compared to compatriot Michael Ballack (4,175) before the age of 21, while Brazil’s Vinicius Jr’s 369 appearances by the age of 24 dwarfs that of Ronaldinho (163) at the same age.
“It’s so tough with crazy schedules,” says Jude Bellingham. “It’s difficult on the body – mentally and physically you are exhausted.”
6) Competition expansion increases risk for players
The expansion of UEFA club competitions and the introduction of a 32-team Club World Cup means elite level players will be subjected to even more competitive games in the 2024/25 season. Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden, for instance, is projected to make almost 80 appearances this campaign.
“It’s difficult to be sharp if you play over 70 games a year," admits Foden’s club team-mate Erling Haaland.
7) Total absence of health and safety principles
In June 2024 FIFPRO Europe member unions submitted a legal claim against FIFA, challenging the legality of FIFA's decisions to unilaterally set the International Match Calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
For the players most in demand for both club matches and national team competitions, the right to a guaranteed annual break has become virtually non-existent, with the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 being held during the only period of the year theoretically available to players to take such breaks. The volume of competitive games coupled with a lack of rest time in the overloaded calendar is damaging to players’ health.
Kylian Mbappe said: “We need to think together about how to offer the best possible solution so that players, spectators, and football’s governing bodies can all embrace it.”
