The chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has warned teams and leagues that there will be a huge problem in the future with players’ careers if the fixtures list is not decongested.
Maheta Molango, who heads the players’ union, was speaking to ESPN in a recent interview about the number of games being worrisome. The PFA, which covers players in England, has a joint petition in court with FIFPRO, the world football players’ union, against FIFA for the foisting of the Club World Cup and other new competitions on the players.
In the not so distant past, players like Rodri – who himself could not get over fitness issues until he tore his ACL – Bernardo Silva, and a few others had suggested that players could go on strike for this reason. Ahead of another international break, which many consider needless, Molango has once again spoken to ESPN over how young players like Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden will have to accept shorter careers because of the accumulation of games.
“Our view is that when you are fortunate enough to have in your ranks talents of the calibre of a Jude, of a Foden, a Declan Rice or a Saka, those guys need to be protected,” Molango told ESPN.
“I want to see Saka, Rice, Jude play for a number of years and celebrate a title for this country. But unfortunately, if we do not protect them, their ability to perform at the highest level will be hampered.
“There is no secret recipe to be fit physically and mentally and if you keep playing back-to-back season with no rest, you’ll end up paying a price. And that’s what we don’t want.
“We should all be careful of protecting those guys who are part of the heritage of English football.
“I think one of the big question marks is what would be the impact in the long run of that overload? Because we as a union also see the consequence of people when they retire in front of their body.
“And I can tell you the number of people having hip replacement, knee replacement was already big. What will happen to someone who plays consistently 60, 70 games back-to-back in back-to-back seasons? How will their hips be? How will their knee be? I think it’s a big question mark.”
Molango also criticised FIFA’s decision to stage the Club World Cup as a separate tournament on its own, which will see fans enjoy 63 more games of football but force the best players to play at least 10 more matches after a gruelling season.
“I think it’s time for people to take those type of situations much more seriously because the future of football is at stake,” he said.
