Manchester City player Bernardo Silva says energy levels cannot be maintained as the number of games increases. Photo: Adam Vaughan/Shutterstock
Blink and you might miss it: it's a mid-season break for Premier League footballers, who are given an approved period of time away from the hamster wheel of the elite game to rest their bodies ahead of the never-ending cycle of club and international football that is waiting.
Not everyone has been able to take advantage, with West Ham and Nottingham Forest among those to have FA Cup third round replays interrupt their breaks. The rest, including the current top five, have some respite – 11 days for Liverpool, 13 for Manchester City, just three games in January for Arsenal. Tottenham Hotspur have 12 days during which they will hope some of the seven injured players can recover. Erling Haaland and other short-handed Premier League players went to rehab in warm weather.
This will likely be the Premier League's final mid-season break. It is planned to be discontinued next season. He will be on the receiving end of football's biggest battle between rival powers – for control of the calendar and, by extension, the billions of pounds the game generates from TV rights sales. The key is the physical preparation of the best players. Elite football players are paid millions, but their recovery time is running out. They are forced to play even harder to serve the power struggle at the top of the game.
Even this mid-season break required some compromise, although at least the will was there. As well as the Premier League spreading one round of games over two weekends, the FA had to scrap the FA Cup fifth round replays and move games to midweek. Of course, for those players who are called up for the African Cup of Nations and Asian Cup, there is no such accommodation. Starting next season, it seems that there will simply be no time to stop playing football.
Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive, warned in the summer that changes taking place in European football and around the world had put enormous pressure on the mid-season break. Masters predecessor Richard Scudamore persuaded Premier League clubs to adopt the measure in 2018 and it came into force in 2019-20. Then it was washed away by the revamped Covid season, and last year by changes brought about by the 2022 Winter World Cup.
Now he has been dealt a mortal blow. First, the expansion of the Champions League to eight group stage games, plus perhaps an additional play-off round to reach the final. Then there will be the month-long FIFA Club World Cup next year, and then every four years. Finally, the expansion of the World Cup finals from 2026 has turned it into a five-week, 48-team epic that will consume much of the summer.
Domestic football in an existential battle
All the pressure on the English football calendar was external. The Premier League, Football League and two domestic competitions have never required more games. Indeed, the Premier League has gone into reverse, with the reduction of the top division to 20 clubs in 1995 and the phasing out of replays in most FA Cup rounds.
But now there is nothing left to give and domestic football across Europe is in an existential crisis a battle against the designs of UEFA and FIFA and their ambitions to host the most profitable competitions.
All teams know that players cannot maintain standards without rest. Summer is constantly coming. Major players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Haaland, James Maddison, Brian Mbeumo, Joelinton and many others have been injured this season. Although the reasons vary from person to person, this trend is concerning. This was due to games increasing in length to 100 minutes and long delays in VAR reviews, which some believed contributed to muscle injuries. This seems unsustainable. Something has to give – but what will it be?
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, has made it clear how he sees the future of domestic leagues in Europe and beyond. He wants them cut, and the benefits for FIFA are obvious. He can use the freed days to expand the territory of his competitions. This is unacceptable for the European leagues. They met late last year to discuss options, and there are no plans to reduce the number of members.
Gianni Infantino appears focused on increasing the influence of FIFA to the detriment of national leagues. Photo: AP/Luis M. Alvarez
One intriguing development came as a result of the European Court of Justice's ruling last month in the UEFA-European Super League case, which made it easier for clubs to take legal action against FIFA. This would be a last resort, although the national leagues are considering all options. The Premier League has more than 30 years of experience growing media rights and a track record that strongly suggests broadcasters like its model. As for its 20 members, the majority outside the big six would rather vote to cancel Christmas than to reduce their number from 20 to 18.
From the players' point of view, Maheta Molango, Chief Executive of the Association of Professional players said legal action could still be an option. It was remarkable how quickly the game reached a tipping point in players' ability to create the high-quality game that global audiences were already accustomed to. The players are now speaking out. In Saudi Arabia, speaking at the FIFA Club World Cup last month, Bernardo Silva said the energy level was simply impossible to maintain as the number of games increased.
Elite footballers like Bernardo at clubs like Manchester City are participating in the competition. deep in all competitions, could face an 86-game season starting in 2024-25, with rest periods dwindling as the demands created by the battle for broadcast revenue increase. When a modest midseason break is no longer an option, it's hard to draw any conclusion other than that there are problems in the game.
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