Latest international window exposes unsustainable player workload as club-country conflicts escalate

• FIFPRO Europe calls for action on player workload after latest international window 
  
  
• Injuries to players including Dembele and Doue show growing club-country tension
  
  
• Push for mandatory regulations and coordination between clubs and national teams

FIFPRO Europe today called for action on player workload, as the latest international release window highlighted both the damaging impact of football’s expanding calendar on player health and growing tension between clubs and national teams over rising injuries.

Injuries to high-profile players – including Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Frenkie de Jong, John Stones, Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Omar Marmoush, and Liam Delap – are only one visible part of the workload crisis facing professional football and are not surprising: player unions have long warned that the international match calendar is unsafe and unsustainable.

The latest window in the context of FIFPRO's Player Workload Monitoring reports:

• The issue of players caught between club and national team demands is not new. The 2023/2024 PWM Report showed, for example, that 84 percent of coaches in France fielded players needing rest due to pressure for results.
  
  
• Public expectations, personal commitments and internal pressure weaken players’ ability to protect their health and careers. The same report found that 54 percent of French players were forced to play while injured.
  
  
• The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup disrupted the minimum player workload safeguards recommended by independent high-performance experts in a FIFPRO Medical Position Statement; these safeguards include a 28-day off-season recovery period and a 28-day pre-season re-training period.

Common sense solutions via social dialogue and collective agreements

"We have reached a point where change is unavoidable," said FIFPRO Europe President David Terrier. "Without urgent reform of the international calendar, specific health and safety regulations and proper coordination of all competitions, players will continue to be put at risk due to commercial and political interest.

 FIFPRO Europe President David Terrier

"The impact is not felt just by the players but increasingly also by clubs, national teams, fans and national competitions. The solutions are clear, and it is our responsibility – as unions, leagues, clubs, fans, governing bodies and public authorities – to find common sense solutions via social dialogue and collective agreements."

Change cannot wait

FIFPRO Europe continues to push for implementation of mandatory health and safety regulations and enforceable coordination between clubs and national teams, while remaining committed to working with all stakeholders – unions, leagues, clubs, fans, governing bodies and public authorities – to establish a sustainable calendar that protects players’ health and safeguards football’s future through collective agreements and social dialogue.