In the debate about the strain on professional footballers, national coach Julian Nagelsmann advocates for longer recovery periods. “I don’t think there will be fewer games in the future, but rather more,” said Nagelsmann before the national team’s game today (8:45 p.m./RTL) in the Nations League in Bosnia-Herzegovina. “We just have to talk about breaks, that’s one point.”
He has often emphasized that he doesn’t want to “constantly complain about the game plan or other things.” “In the end, of course, many games finance the relatively expensive sport,” said the national coach, who has to do without several injured national players in Zenica. However, these injuries are not the result of overuse, said Nagelsmann and cited the example of David Raum’s ankle injury, in which “a player fell into his ankle, that has nothing to do with overuse.”
Dispute on multiple levels
National coach Nagelsmann warns against “lumping together” all injuries. | © Christian Charisius/dpa
In football, there has been debate at various levels for months about the burden on professionals, especially at the top level. In the meantime there was also talk of a strike by the players if there were no fewer games. The players’ union Fifpro and the European Leagues Association are seeking a complaint against the world association FIFA at EU level.
“You can’t lump every injury together and say it’s all the same and it’s all a burden,” said Nagelsmann. The 37-year-old led the NBA basketball league and the NLF football league, in which significantly more regular season games are played, but the professionals have longer rest periods between seasons. “That’s a bit of an issue in football that we don’t have that,” said Nagelsmann. The body needs phases “where it shuts down completely”.
This season, more games will be played in the European Football Union UEFA’s European Cup, and next summer the reformed Club World Cup of the world association FIFA will be added with 32 teams and significantly more games. Players who will play international matches and subsequent Club World Cup games in the USA in June 2025 will have little time to recover before the start of the 2025/26 season.
