Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Thursday October 10, 2024 at 8:45 p.m.
What do football leaders, at FIFA and UEFA, think about it? Not sure that it is still possible to stop the infernal spiral…
The topic of the calendar and pace of matches in football has perhaps become number 1 in recent weeks, or even months. Particularly in the German team, where we take a bit of a general opposite view with captain Joshua Kimmich and now coach Julian Nagelsmann, even if the latter broadens the thinking: “I always said that I would not complain of the calendar, a lot of matches finance this sport But you have to have a healthy balance I don’t think there will be fewer matches in the future, so we should rather talk about how to structure the breaks between competitions. .”
“There is a long break in the NBA or NFL, unlike us”
The former Bayern coach cites the NBA (basketball) and the NFL (American football) as examples, and he could add the NHL (ice hockey) and even the MLB (baseball) with much greater rest periods between games. seasons, even though the players in all these American leagues play more matches than in football, at least for basketball and hockey (and even more in baseball): 82 minimum per regular season, in just six months, before the playoffs which add four to 28 games in two months depending on the route. “They have a long break, unlike footballers who have nothing.”
In reality, there is generally two and a half months of latency between two championship seasons, but it is the international competitions of June and July which disrupt everything, even if the holidays of the elements concerned must normally last the same time and simply find themselves shifted (which distorts the start of the season)… Not to mention the Club World Cup, which now takes place at the same time in an odd year. Whereas in basketball or hockey, these international final phases are much less important for a large majority of players, who can even find it long in the NBA with six months without competition from April to October.
