Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger criticised the “negativity” around player welfare in footballer as he highlighted Lionel Messi's longevity.
Wenger is the head of global football development at football’s world governing body, FIFA, and has performed a stark U-turn on the issue since his time as Gunners boss, when he was a vocal critic of the international football calendar. He claimed there was a “lot of politics” in international games that were designed “to help some federations to raise money”.
Player welfare has been a steady theme in football in recent years, with an increasingly congested calendar of club and international football which was stretched further by the Covid pandemic and staging of a World Cup in the middle of the club season for the first time. FIFA has also announced the creation of a controversial new Club World Cup tournament.
