All those involved in top-flight football have been encouraged by Fifpro to sustainably manage the workloads of players amid a mid-season World Cup. Doubt was cast as to whether Son Heung-Min would travel to Qatar to represent South Korea at the tournament after recently undergoing eye surgery.
The 30-year-old forward was forced to withdraw in the first-half of Tottenham's 2-1 win over Marseille in the UEFA Champions League earlier this month after fracturing his eye. Son, who was specifically referenced in Fifpro's report, was a huge doubt but he's soldiered on and is now set to lead his country out against Uruguay on November 24.
Other marquee players who have been put in similar situations with regard to injury include Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane and Juventus' Paul Pogba, of Senegal and France respectively.
Fifpro, as quoted by the BBC, claimed that the 'unsustainable' workload damages players' physical and mental health. It added that the sheer number of games puts players' 'career longevity at risk'.
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The BBC bullet-pointed Fifpro's key findings. The report said: "In many regions, additional fixtures have been crammed into an already saturated early part of this season, exposing players to increased risk.
"In other regions, players have been competitively underloaded due to inadequate calendar planning. Significantly reduced preparation and recovery periods before and after the World Cup pose an ominous threat to player health and hinder performance optimisation."
Since joining Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015, Son has featured 344 times for the north Londoners across all competitions meaning that he's averaged 43 games a season for Spurs alone. Since joining the club, he's also featured 61 times for South Korea which is nearly 50 competitive games for club and country on average a season.
Real Madrid star and Germany international Toni Kroos has also spoken out on heavy workload on players. As early as 2014, the midfielder told Spanish outlet Marca that the rising number of injuries are 'no accident'.
"I think the number of games is too high," Kroos said. "Especially for those players who are also internationals. It is no accident that in the last two months there have been so many players injured, and I'm not just talking about muscular problems.
"In the season, teams are playing every three days. It is a big workload involving some long journeys too. In football we could do with more time to rest, like they have in the NBA."
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