October 16 – The elite modern footballer is running on fumes. Between club, country, and increasingly commercial commitments, the calendar is a relentless treadmill with barely time to take a tea-break.
Europe’s elite clubs, including several from the Premier League, know that their prized assets can no longer keep producing performances without significant help from the administrators of the game.
At last week’s European Football Clubs (EFC) general assembly in Rome, the conversation turned informally to the idea of six substitutes per match and 28-man squads. This seemingly practical solution could ease the physical strain players are experiencing, as statistics clearly demonstrate. Tottenham’s Archie Gray, still only 19, featured in 80 matchday squads last season across club and country, the same as Real Madrid’s teenage star, Arda Güler.
England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), whose remit is to look after players, remains sceptical, claiming that expanding squads and adding substitutions doesn’t change the underlying factors of travel, pressure, and outside commitments.
IFAB, football’s rule-making body, would need to approve any move to six substitutes, and while they seemingly do not object to more fixtures (think FIFA Club World Cup) they are slow to change rules to protect players.
The one organisation that continually asks questions of the governing bodies, FIFPRO, warns of an unsustainable model. “Even if the player does not end up playing any minutes,” it noted in a report last month, “they still have to be physically present and fully participate in team preparations… These occasions are also part of the player’s working time commitments.”