UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin responded to recent criticism of footballers playing an excessive number of matches and warned that reducing the number of matches can result in less revenue and lower wages for the players.

According to The Sun, the UEFA President stated:

"When we say that footballers are modern gladiators, we are exaggerating a bit. The better the footballer, the bigger the star, the more protected he is by the referees, who are also constantly in the fans' teeth."

"It is true that the players play a lot and that the match calendar could not be more full."

"But I would not agree that only those at the highest level are the most burdened. The players from my country, Slovenia, play as often as, for example, those from Real Madrid. Except that they are paid 500 times less."

"If we were to reduce the number of matches, we would end up with the result that the salaries of football players would also fall because the clubs would have less income."

"It's a vicious cycle. The compromise is that no new competitions are introduced."

Ceferin sparked controversy after the General Assembly of the European Clubs Association, held in October 2024, where he stated that only the high-paid players expressed dissatisfaction, while those who earn less did not make any public statement regarding the issue.

The European calendar of football and its unbalance were discussed in the assembly though Ceferin admitted that the schedule in congested and reached the maximum limit.

The long-growing displeasure

UEFA and FIFA had already been slammed by footballers and coaches about the increasing number of games per season.

UEFA faced severe criticism after introducing the UEFA Nations League, back in 2018 with a new format including promotion and relegation. Controversies started hovering as various theories suggested this tournament to be a series of friendlies branded into a tournament to generate more revenue for UEFA.

The Nations League matches are played during the international breaks when European teams used to feature in friendlies or take part in the qualifiers matches.

However, many prominent footballers and managers did not welcome the idea of this new tournament. Following the 2021 UEFA Nations League third-place play-off match between Italy and Belgium on 10 October 2021, Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois publicly criticized FIFA and UEFA in the post-match interview with Sky Sports:

"This game is just a money game and we have to be honest about it,"

"We just play it because for UEFA it's extra money.

"They can be angry about other teams wanting a Super League but they don't care about the players, they just care about their pockets.

"It's a bad thing that players are not spoken about. And now you hear about a European Championship and a World Cup every year, when will we get a rest? Never."

"So in the end top players will get injured and injured and injured. It's something that should be much better and much more taken care of,

"We are not robots! It's just more and more games and less rest for us and nobody cares about us."

Former Germany coach Hansi Flick addressed his concern about the increasing number of matches in a press conference on 10 June 2022. Flick responded to a question:

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin hits back amid controversy over excessive number of matches-sportzpoint.com — (Image Credit | Football365)

"This should be looked at and we need to ask ourselves how we can offer players a break because that is important,"

"UEFA or FIFA should look into these things and take some measures."

In a very recent interview ahead of Belgium's clash against Israel in the Nations League in September 2024, Courtois' national team-mate Kevin De Bruyne addressed the same issue along with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, which is set to be played in 2025.

🚨⚠️ De Bruyne: “The PFA and other player associations have tried to find solutions…”.

“The issue is UEFA and FIFA keep adding extra matches”.

“We can raise concerns, but no solutions have been found”.

“It seems money speaks louder than players' voices!”, says via @Reuters. pic.twitter.com/8PzTIogMlQ
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 7, 2024

"The real problem will emerge after the Club World Cup...We know there will be only three weeks between the Club World Cup final and the first Premier League match. So, we have three weeks to rest and prepare for another 80 matches,"

"The issue is that UEFA and Fifa keep adding extra matches, and we can raise concerns, but no solutions have been found. It seems that money speaks louder than the players' voices"

via Reuters

Criticism and legal actions regarding the expanded FIFA Club World Cup 2025

The FIFA Club World 2025 will introduce an expanded format that will feature 32 participating teams competing for the glory. This new tournament has further increased the number of matches in a season and resulted in grievances from prominent players and managers.

2024 Ballon d'Or winner and Manchester City's midfielder Rodri expressed his concern about the excessive number of games and said that every player should have an optimum number of matches to play every season.

"From my experience I can tell you that 60-70 [is no good]. Between 40 and 50 is the amount of games in which a player can perform in the highest level. After that you drop because it is impossible to sustain the physical level."

"This year we can go to 70, maybe 80, I don’t know. It depends how far you go in the competitions. It is too much. We have to take care of ourselves. Someone has to take care of ourselves because we are the main characters of this sport or business or whatever you want to call it."

via The Guardian

However, this long-growing cold war between the players or officials and the governing bodies has now turned into a legal battle.

The tension emerged when FIFPro, the worldwide players' union, and the European Leagues, which represents 37 domestic leagues submitted a legal claim against FIFA on 13 June 2024, "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."

Here is the official legal claim.

"We don't have enough dates anymore in the calendar."

The Premier League's director of international relations, Mathieu Moreuil, states that legal action is the 'only option' as they allege that FIFA have failed to consult properly regarding football fixtures 😬 pic.twitter.com/GHqgwY8rgF
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 14, 2024

At the European Commission in Brussels On 14 October 2024, the protesting bodies jointly filed a legal complaint against FIFA over FIFA's imposition on match calendars.

Check the official legal complaint here.

The third international break of the year has already started and the players are on their national duties. But the question remains, will there be any change regarding this distressing issue?

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