With the expanded Champions League and the planned Club World Cup next year causing a big fixture pile-up, how likely is it we will see players take action over the number of games they are being forced to play? – Oliver
It’s definitely an issue, and given how many players have talked about workload in public, you can be sure it’s something they’re discussing privately. The problem really is how action could be organised. It’s only elite players who are playing too many games; those lower down the pyramid probably wouldn’t mind a few more games for extra cash. Similarly while a lot of fans are concerned about the proliferation of games that seem to mean very little, they’d still be furious if a game for which they’ve bought a ticket and paid travel costs was called off because of an industrial dispute by players who earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a week. That’s one of the reasons football has taken the disappointing path it has; organised opposition is very difficult – the protest against the super league was one of the very few occasions on which enough of football’s different stakeholders were sufficiently in alignment to kick back.
That said, the Club World Cup would seem a decent target. The shambolic organisation means few fans are likely to have bought tickets yet and, unlike the Champions League or a World Cup, it’s not a competition players dream of playing in. In terms of the PR war, it would be very easy, at least for players at European clubs, to portray it as a needless addition imposed on the calendar with no consultation – because that’s true. I don’t expect it, but if there were to be serious action, it would make sense for players to target it at the Club World Cup.
