Packed to Breaking: Koundé Sounds Alarm Over Football's Unsustainable Calendar
Jules Koundé, the Barcelona and France defender, recently came out with a statement about the state of the calendar and how players are affected by the growing number of matches they are expected to play in. This has been on many players' minds, especially now that a few new international competitions have been established.
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Jules Koundé
The Evolving Football Calendar
In the last couple of years, the football calendar has expanded significantly, with players and coaches noticing the additional strain. For instance, the FIFA Club World Cup now features 32 teams, which adds up to 63 matches for a single team during the summer schedule.Some teams have obligations in their national league and cup, but also these international fixtures. Players also have obligations with their national teams, and there are often friendly games in between. This starts to add up.
Argument for Expansion
For a while now, there have been growing arguments for expanding these events. For instance, it means that they won't be dominated by a handful of best times, and there's a chance for the smaller teams to have their day in the sun. Crypto sports betting sites provide the players with more events to wager on, and the branding revenue expands as well. Sites such as these allow players to wager using crypto regardless of where they are based, and the transfers are safe and quick.The football fan base is also growing and global, and more events and matches serve that growing base. National leagues have matches abroad, and fans often follow teams by traveling to international events.
Koundé's Statement
Koundé emphasised the effect this schedule has on the players and their personal lives. "It's not just about the players," he told a press conference. "There are families. I also think about all the people who work around football and who are sometimes victims of this relentless pace.""Sometimes in life, when we overdo things, we stop appreciating them. When we see too much, we no longer give it the same importance. That's what's happening with football - it's overconsumption. These are things we need to put into perspective," he said. "And I think they need to change."
A Personal Perspective
Koundé is one of the best possible spokespersons for this issue. He has personally faced the difficulties of a grueling schedule. In 2024, Koundé played 5,872 minutes in a calendar year, participating in 69 matches for both Barcelona and the French national team.The Human Cost
The human cost of this type of schedule is most noticeable in the form of injuries. Players tend to get hurt much more than before, and experts from CCN claim that this trend is noticeable in how wagers are made.The players are overstretched, there's not enough time to recover after an injury, and the travel and the long hours take their toll as well. For instance, several French players, including Rayan Cherki and William Saliba, have suffered injuries that have made them withdraw from the upcoming fixtures.
Growing Club Competition
Club competition, in particular, has exploded in the last couple of years. There are several explanations for why this happened. First of all, many more football clubs all over the world are good enough to compete against each other, and some fans want to see those match-ups.Secondly, there's a growing trend of expanding the format so that it doesn't get monopolised by a few of the best teams out there. Thirdly, international games are becoming easier to organise with teams that can provide similar infrastructure and comfort anywhere in the world.
Impact on Fans
There's also a negative impact on the fans that many have started to notice. Too many football matches can lead to a saturation point for some fans. The events will start to lose their appeal as they become common.After a few years, fans would stop coming to games, and teams would feel this in their revenue and, therefore, budgets. We're not there yet, but this trend is starting to emerge.
Solutions
Players, teams, and fans have already suggested some solutions. Most of these would require the governing bodies of international football to react and impose rules that would prevent burnout.- Some have suggested that FIFA limit the number of games a player can participate in within a year, and that other governing bodies, teams, and players determine how that number would be divided among different leagues.
- Others claim that tournament schedules should be adjusted with an overall yearly list of obligations in mind, so that they don't overlap.
- Players are mostly focused on recovery periods between tournaments and big events. Medical professionals and experts share this view because rest is crucial when dealing with injuries and with performance. A longer resting period between seasons is what most players asked for, and therefore, it would limit preseason events, such as friendly games and international fixtures.
- Everyone agrees that fixtures should be better coordinated among different governing bodies so that the players and their families are put at the center when scheduling decisions are made. Travel is also a big part of this coordination since it's just as damaging as the actual schedule.
To Sum Up
Jules Koundé has issued a call to relax the schedule players face when playing abroad, and to balance international and team obligations. This isn't a new sentiment, and players and experts have discussed it before. The schedule has become increasingly packed with games to accommodate new events and formats.This, in turn, has led to fatigue for both players and fans. There are often over 65 events within a year for a professional football player managing both a club and a national team spot. Such a schedule can lead to poor performance, injuries, and even impact the player's personal life.