Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji became the latest player to criticize the busy schedule faced by footballers. He stated that he could retire at the age of 30 as he will be at his maximum capacity after several tough seasons at the highest level of the sport.
The 29-year-old Akanji played 48 games each in his first two seasons at Manchester City and started this season on short rest. He played at the European Championship for Switzerland, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals on July 6, and then featured in City’s opening match of the 2024/25 season on August 10, after barely a month off.
“It’s so hard,” he said, according to ESPN. “You’re not just thinking about this season, you’re also thinking about next season. Let’s say we win the league or cup and then go to the Club World Cup final; the Community Shield is three weeks later. So when do we have holidays ?There are no breaks in the winter, so if we’re lucky we’ll get two weeks and then we’ll have to go back to the next season.
Manchester City played a total of 59 matches last season between the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Club World Cup and other commitments in domestic and continental competitions. The team could play more than 50 games again this season if they make deep runs in any of the cup competitions they will compete in, but could play an even longer campaign this time with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup. City have already qualified for the 32-team competition, up from eight, which will take place in the US in June and July next year.
Akanji said the traffic congestion is taking both a physical and mental toll on the players.
“It’s just game after game and I don’t know how it will work out in the next few years,” he said. “You can’t just keep adding game after game and assume that everything will be back to the way it was. You have to think about the players too. At some point you will be too tired to play any more games. And then come injuries, Sure, we train as hard as we can and we are fit, but there has to be a limit. Maybe I’ll retire when I’m 30.”
The defender’s comments echo the long-standing views of his manager at City, Pep Guardiola, who has long criticized the busy schedules faced by players. Guardiola raised the issue again in July during City’s pre-season tour of the US, criticizing both the fixtures on the schedule and the travel involved.
“Institutions like FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League don’t think about the players, so the managers have to think about it,” he said after the defeat to AC Milan at New York’s Yankee Stadium. ‘Otherwise they will die. It’s too much… There is no solution. That won’t happen either [a] solution because this is not the intention [a] solution.”
The expanded Club World Cup in particular brings a renewed focus to the busy calendar and serves as a focal point in a new lawsuit filed in July by FIFPRO Europe and the European leagues. The parties have taken legal action against FIFA, arguing that the schedule is “unsustainable” and endangers the health and safety of the players.