Gerard Piqué, former Barcelona and Spain defender, has joined the chorus of critics calling on international football bodies to ease the burden on sporting calendars. The former international, who spoke at London Leaders Week, explained that there are currently “too many games”, a situation that has worsened with the creation of the new Club World Cup, to be played at the end of this season, as well as with the new format of European competitions. “There are a lot of games and now we see that players are saying ‘listen, we are getting injured. There are games every three days, we don’t have time to rest in the summer’.” And when asked how he would solve the problem… “I would suggest reducing the number of matches. Talk to the leagues and say ‘instead of 20 teams why don’t you do the competition with 16? At the same time I would talk to UEFA and say ‘why did they create this Nations League, which is difficult to follow? Then with FIFA. ‘Don’t compete in this Club World Cup that they created now…'”
Gerard Piqué, who hung up his boots in 2022, admits, on the other hand, that he understands what is behind the issue, but warns that it is necessary to think about the players. “I understand that they want to generate more revenue, but for the good of football it could be better to have fewer, more premium, more exclusive games. It would also be much easier to follow from an audience point of view and for football players it would be less meetings.”
By Isabel Dantas
