Foden could play more than 80 games in coming seasons, says report in player workload warning

The Player Workload Monitoring report reveals that many football players are now facing 70-game seasons, with Premier League clubs being one of the worst for the problem. Eight of the top ten players for matchday squad inclusions worldwide played in the English top flight - including Julián Alvarez, who made 75 appearances last season. That far exceeds the recommended threshold with 88% of High Performance Coaches surveyed by the union agreeing that 55 matches should be the limit in a season.

Alvarez’s case is particularly bad, with his season lasting over a year from July 2023 to August 2024. Between playing in the Premier League, Champions League, Copa América, and Olympics, Alvarez racked up 39 international trips and 83 squad inclusions. Manchester City teammates Phil Foden, Rúben Dias, and Kyle Walker also feature in the top ten players for squad inclusions worldwide.

Their manager Pep Guardiola has been an outspoken critic of football’s ever-expanding calendar, hitting out at the schedule in April when his side played 120 minutes against Real Madrid only a few days before an FA Cup semi final at Wembley. Guardiola’s team played 59 matches across seven competitions last season, with many players also competing on international duty.

The manager said back in 2021: “During 11 months it is games, games, games. Before, pre-season was four or five weeks. Now we have 10 days. We want to play football and enjoy it, but we have to reduce it. It's too much. I'm not saying you have to eliminate national teams, or the Champions League, or the Premier League, or all the cups, but we have to find a solution.”

The calendar has only become more congested since, and the Champions League, Club World Cup, and FIFA World Cup are all set to expand. FIFPro’s report projects that Phil Foden, based on his current proportion of appearances and squad inclusions, might have to play 83 matches for club and country across the 2025/26 season. City’s game count as a club is projected to rise to 75.

All these games will also increase travel, which is already a huge problem particularly for players who switch continents for international duty. Cristian Romero plies his trade for Tottenham but hails from Argentina; he spent 211 hours travelling. That’s over 8 solid days. His travel distance is the equivalent of flying around the world four times. His Spurs colleague Son Heung-min is also highlighted as an example of how the international calendar can impact - after the Asian Cup, he had only four rest days between his semi-final appearance for South Korea and returning to club action in England. During that time he had to fly seven hours home from the tournament in Qatar. A lack of recovery time is a massive issue in the men’s game,

with the report showing that players also face many back-to-back fixtures (meaning they play two or more games in a single week). Alexander López recorded a 19-appearance streak of back-to-back matches; FIFPro’s research showed an overwhelming view that players should not play more than six games back-to-back. More than half of players surveyed would prefer to limit that to three.

There are worries about what the packed calendar could mean for the future of football, with young talents facing unprecedented pressures. Jude Bellingham made 251 appearances by the age of 21 compared to David Beckham’s 54 by the same age, leading to concerns that his workload could spell an early end to his career. The trend is replicated abroad: by the age of 25, Kylian Mbappé made 417 career appearances, compared to 320 for compatriot Zinedine Zidane.

The impact that the crowded calendar can have on players is illustrated, according to one expert, by Erling Haaland. Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango said that the Norwegian’s red-hot start to the campaign, scoring seven goals in City’s first three games, can be linked to his ‘holiday’ as his side did not qualify for the European Championships.

FIFPRO’s Acting general-Secretary Stephane Burchkalter said in the report’s foreword: “We cannot continue like this! This path is not sustainable. It harms the players and harms the competitions that already exist. But it does not have to be this way. We can build a new vision for our sport.”

Today’s report comes against a background of a lawsuit against FIFA from bodies including the Premier League and PFA, who have accused the organisation of failing to consult over calendar changes and taking “unilateral decisions”. A joint statement from multiple leagues and unions issued in July read: "The international match calendar is now beyond saturation and has become unsustainable for national leagues and a risk for the health of players.”