Global Soccer Union Says Players Need More Rest Time

The global soccer players union FIFPro released its annual workload report Monday that says the international calendar is too burdensome.

FIFPro has continuously opposed soccer organizers, particularly FIFA, for expanding the international match schedule in recent years. The UEFA Champions League grew last year, as will next year’s World Cup.

One focal point of FIFPro’s criticism in the report is the Club World Cup, which FIFA significantly revamped this summer. The tournament grew from seven to 32 teams and boasted a prize purse of $1 billion. The money courted several of Europe’s biggest clubs including Manchester City, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and Chelsea, who took home at least $100 million for winning the tournament.

FIFPro says players haven’t been getting enough rest time between seasons or preparation time in preseason before jumping back into match play. The union cites a recent study that recommended players receive at least four weeks off between seasons and another minimum of four weeks for preseason training.

The new report tracked the percentage of players in the top five European leagues who competed in the UEFA European Championship and CONMEBOL Copa América in the summer of 2024 who received 28 days of either off-season or preseason. The report found 14% of Euro and 9% of Copa players got four weeks off, while 15% of Euro players and just 4% of Copa players got four weeks of preseason.

Those numbers went down for the biggest tournament of this summer, the Club World Cup. The report found that none of the participating teams gave their players 28 days off before the preseason began. None of the top European clubs—PSG, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, or Borussia Dortmund—gave their players 28 days in either category. All of these clubs gave their players between 19 and 25 days off, and between 7 and 23 days of preseason training. (Tournament finalists PSG and Chelsea had seven and 13 days of preseason, respectively, the report found.)

The report said the turnaround time between international and club play can be under 48 hours, which FIFPro says especially isn’t enough time for top players whose national team duties are on a different continent than their club.

FIFPro directly called out the heat problem at the Club World Cup, saying four matches should have been canceled or rescheduled. Players and managers complained about the temperature and mid-day kickoffs as the U.S. endured a heatwave this summer in several cities that will also host World Cup matches next year.

The players union has long criticized FIFA in particular for adding games to the international calendar, and even last year made a complaint saying FIFA is violating EU competition law by acting as both organizer and regulator. FIFA is far from the only organizer staging summer tournaments—the 2024 Summer Olympics and CONCACAF Gold Cup this year are two other recent examples—but its total makeover of the Club World Cup added significant additional workload to the international calendar. FIFA is also expanding the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams and 64 to 104 matches next summer.

FIFA has blamed the clubs, domestic leagues, and confederations for overloading the calendar, and held that any changes it’s made have received full approval. 

FIFA held a meeting this summer with players unions in New York, after which it announced it had reached a “consensus” about player welfare, including a 21-day offseason and 72 hours between matches. FIFPro was notably not invited to the meeting.