by Wasim Ahmed and Ronnie Das, The Conversation

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

For some professional footballers, the ultimate sporting honor is to play—and hopefully win—for their country. A place in the international squad is highly prized and hard fought for.

But for the men's England team, perhaps some of the shine has come off. Captain Harry Kane has openly criticized his fellow players for excusing themselves from international duty before matches in November 2024 against Greece and Ireland.

A total of nine players ruled themselves out, including Cole Palmer (Chelsea) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), who both withdrew from the squad citing injuries.

And of course, injured players cannot perform as well as they or their fans might wish. But the implication seems to be that the players are not prioritizing the national team.

Yet data suggests that fans—and Kane—should maybe give those players the benefit of the doubt. For the demands of the modern game in an overloaded football calendar are having a serious impact on players' well-being and performance.

For example, one official review indicates a rise of 11% in player injuries in the Premier League during the 2023-24 season compared to the previous one. And aside from the physical damage, those injuries (most of which occur during the first half of the game) cost Premier League clubs £266 million on salaries for players who were unable to play.

The new Champions League format has also introduced controversy in terms of the additional number of games it demands. Under the new system, teams are required to play eight first-round matches instead of six. Some will then need to play additional play-off games to reach the round of 16.

And while some analysis concludes that there has been no significant increase recently in the number of matches played at club level, it can be a different story for individual players called up by their country.

A report by FIFPro, which represents 65,000 professional footballers across the world, suggests the difference for national team players is stark. According to its calculations, a club player who participated in Euro 2024 spent 88% of their days that season on footballing commitments. For a player who didn't take part in the European tournament, it was 81%.

The same report cites experts who believe that 25 to 39 matches should be considered as a "moderate" workload over a season, and that players should not participate in more than 55. This season, a star player like Phil Foden (Manchester City and England) is expected to play a total of 77.

A sporting chance

Footballers too have been vocal about the demands they face. Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid and Spain) has argued that it is impossible to play more than 70 games a season at full capacity.

And Manchester City (and Spain) midfielder Rodrigo Hernández (Rodri) claimed that players were seriously contemplating strike action. A few weeks after making that statement he suffered a serious injury which is expected to see him sidelined for the rest of the season.

Of course, there may be some who struggle to sympathize with the work load of extremely well paid football players. It is important to recognize that players at this elite level are athletes who put huge strain on their bodies, under extreme pressure.

And the governing bodies responsible for the sport and its players should be mindful of this. The impact of travel, different time zones and mental burnout should all be taken into account to protect the players' health.

Squad depth is extremely important in protecting players career longevity, but clubs are restricted by financial regulations. Meanwhile, FIFPro has filed legal claims against Fifa for alleged violation (through its calendar of fixtures) of players' fundamental employment rights including freedom of work and healthy working conditions.

For football more generally, acting to improve players' well-being will not only increase performance levels and career longevity, but also likely improve the quality and competitiveness of major tournaments. If England—or any other side—crash out of tournaments because key players are injured, the responsibility should be borne at a higher level rather than on the shoulders of hardworking athletes.

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