History with a capital H stutters, it is well known. Thus, according to legend, like Marie-Antoinette who, on the eve of the French Revolution, informed that her people no longer had a piece of bread to put under the ratiches, made the right move within herself advising us to “eat brioche”, the masters of world football do not seem to be aware of what is happening before their eyes. Indeed, tired of seeing them decide the – ever-increasing – number of competitions to play and shape their crazy calendars like a chisel, the footballers are grumbling.
This week, on the French side, it’s Aurélien Tchouaméni who stuck to it, a few hours before facing Scotland in Lille in a friendly match. “Obviously we play too many matches! “, exclaimed the Real midfielder, before developing his argument: “It’s a surprise to no one. I remember that before, the Champions League was once every 2 weeks, it was the only time when the players chained weeks to 3 matches whereas today it is recurring. It’s up to the authorities to do something! It will be up to us to come together too, to bang our fists on the table. Playing seasons with 70 or 80 games is impossible.”
At the same time, his Dutch counterpart Virgil Van Dijk came to say that he would prefer sit on part of your salary as long as it allows him to play fewer matches. Almost a year ago to the day, already, during this same international break in October, it was Thibaut Courtois who sounded the alarm, to the point that we then asked ourselves in a paper “when will the big night for footballers? “. A year later, the question arises with even more weight. Is this a revolt? No, sire, it’s a revolution.
FIFPRO feels less alone
After having “preached in the desert” for a long time, David Terrier feels less and less alone in his struggle. If the major authorities continue to bury their heads in the sand, the players finally seem receptive. “Two years ago, when we warned about the worrying increase in playing time, footballers kept telling us that they agreed with us but also told us that they still wanted to play all the matches. Today, they tell us that they can no longer do it. It’s a tipping point. It’s good to see that the subject is finally of interest,” smiles the vice-president of the UNFP and president of the European branch of FIFPRO. Same observation across the Channel, where his British counterpart Maheta Molango, from PFA, the Premier League players’ union, speaks of a “significant number of angry players and no longer isolated cases”.
Until then, the top players, since it is them that we are talking about when we approach the theme of the overdose of matches, hesitated to open it, aware of their privileged situation in a world which goes from bad and worse. Perhaps our Blues also remember the welcome given in 1963 by the media and public opinion, who did not hesitate to descend Raymond Kopa and his demands to put an end to the life contract, an end to the era of “slavery”, accusing him of selfishness, of an overly spoiled child whose only job is kicking a ball.
“They have long feared the reactions of the general public, especially on social networks, but even despite that, at some point enough is enough. The players do not participate in anything, they have no decision-making powers and, above all, they have no right to complain,” adds David Terrier, who went to meet the French team at the end of last season to cause physical and mental fatigue, and unionism. “They told me that they came to select their match, or parts of a match in which they gave their all, so as not to be left out at the end of the season,” he confides. “For the players, we have the impression that it’s ‘play and shut up'”, fumed Vahid Halilhodzic in our columns before the World Cup in Qatar, a year ago.
Always more playing time, always younger
While FIFA failed to force its biennial World Cup down our throats, it still announced a 48-team World Cup and a Club World Cup (from 2025), while UEFA has drawn up its new version of the C1 with 36 teams and its Euro with 24. Out of Christian charity, we are told, to open football to the toothless people who have been put aside for too long. “It’s an unspeakable hypocrisy since, in the end, it’s always the same players, those from the big clubs and the big nations, who go the furthest and who play the most,” protests Terrier. All with the approval of the national federations and clubs, blinded by the promise of a nice check at the end of the season. Yet the figures are there, speaking, even screaming. According to the latest FIFPRO report:
- At 22, Vinicius Junior has already played 18,876 minutes for club and national team, more than twice as many as Ronaldinho at the same age.
- At 24 years old, Kylian Mbappé has played 26,952 minutes, or 48% more than Thierry Henry at the same age.
- Jude Bellingham will have played more than 30% more competitive minutes by his 20th birthday later this month than Wayne Rooney did at the same age.
“The top players are on the verge of breakdown, we see it every season with an ever-increasing number of injuries, physical or psychological. It’s absurd. “There is evidence that the cannibalization of the match schedule is subjecting today’s top players to greater mental and physical stress than the previous generation,” FIFPRO General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said recently. The match schedule from 2024/2025 will put increased pressure on their health and careers. Together, we all have a duty of care towards these players, and the industry must accelerate the implementation of actions aimed at preserving their health and well-being.”
Guardiola calls for general strike
And David Terrier is worried, taking the example of Raphaël Varane, the man who was so smooth who said shit to the system, the day after the World Cup in Qatar: “The comparison of the playing time of Mbappé and by Thierry Henry at the same age is already very telling, but you should know that Jude Bellingham has already played more matches than Kylian Mbappé at the same age! How far will it go? ! Doctors tell us that it will become impossible for players to maintain their level of performance for very long. We are heading straight towards players who are completely exhausted just past their thirties and towards shorter careers.”
What then remains for our preachers of the apocalypse to stop the infernal machine? The struggle? Strike ? “Yes,” replies Molango. “Guardiola himself publicly spoke of the need for players to strike,” he recalls, taking as an example the social movement of Spanish internationals after the Rubiales scandal. “The players decided to change something and they changed it. They were forced to change, because the players decided so […]. The greatest legacy is that,” recalled the Catalan a few days ago.
“As a union, we are currently considering the protest options available to us,” assures Molango. “When we were at Clairefontaine in June, the Blues told us: ‘This is the second time you’ve talked to us about this, but what can we do? No one listens to us anyway. I told them it must have come from them. They have to strike, they have to say ‘stop, we’re not playing anymore’. It’s sad to say but it’s the only solution for the authorities to listen to them, believes David Terrier. They must understand that the players are behind us and that the situation is no longer tenable. We must find a solution and a new balance, even if the damage is partly done because the competitions have been validated. » But history has shown that nothing is ever irreversible. Talk to Marie Antoinette.