This schedule is unsustainable: the number of matches is skyrocketing, as are the number of injuries

The year 2024 is on track to break all records in terms of the number of matches played. In addition to the national and European club competitions, this year, in the middle of summer, three international events have been added: the European Championship, the Copa América and the Olympic Games.

This compressed calendar has meant that hundreds of footballers have had practically no time to rest after a long and exhausting club season. The seasons are beginning to overlap, starting earlier and ending later.

"Economic" tours replace "sports" pre-seasons:

At club level, most clubs have dangerously moved to prioritise economics over sporting interests, going so far as to replace pre-seasons with summer tournaments and tours where competition continues at a level well above what is advisable. However, national club competitions remain the same, maintaining the same formats and number of matches.

UEFA and FIFA are responsible

The great imbalance is being caused by UEFA and FIFA, inventing new competitions and further increasing the number of matches in existing ones. The new Champions League will have more matches and will last four weeks longer than usual. Another radical change comes with the FIFA Club World Cup, which has gone from being a tournament with 4 teams to one with 32 teams. The number is so exaggerated that they have had to place the tournament in June.

All this has a direct impact on the calendars of national competitions, which are forced to concentrate a high number of matches in a short period of time. The Spanish League itself has been forced to bring forward the matches of the month of August. But the worst consequence of this nonsense is the health of the footballers, who fall like flies when faced with such a load of matches.

The number of injured has skyrocketed

At the start of September, with four games already played and coinciding with the first FIFA break, the number of injuries is alarming. The latest to join the list has been Fermín López, who will be away from the pitch for around three weeks. The FC Barcelona player is a clear example of what is happening. After playing the regular season with Barça, he was called up by the national team for the European Championship and also for the Olympic Games, something clearly unsustainable.