Vinicius and Lautaro the most used footballers in the world. FifPro’s alarm: “Playing too much, players’ health at risk” – Football

”Footballers play more, maybe too much”. Through the publication of a detailed report, the FIF Prothe International Association of Professional Footballers, issued a warning, focusing attention on too many matches during the season and that this figure ”can damage the players’ physical and mental health”.

Vinicius doubles Ronaldinho

The FIFPro analysis focused in particular on one aspect: how many minutes the players played compared to the protagonists of the last decade. The numbers speak for themselves: Vinicius of the real Madridat only 22 years of age, has already played 18,876 minutes, more than double what his compatriot had collected at the same age Ronaldinho. But it is not an isolated case: Spanish Pedro at the age of 20 he played about 12,000 minutes, 25% more than Xavi. It’s still: Mbappe is currently close to 27,000 career minutes, 48% more than Henry at his age. The example of English is also emblematic Bellingham: the new signing of the Blancos, 19 years old, has 14,445 minutes on his back. Before turning 20, other English champions had never played so much: Rooney 11 thousand, owen 9 thousand, Lampard 3.4 thousand e Beckhams only 829.

Lautaro workaholic

FIFPro then listed the players most present in the last season. Behind Vinicius, who ran for a total of 56 thousand kilometers, stands out Lautaro Martinez of Inter (62 appearances this season). On the other hand, the Nerazzurri reached the bottom of both the Champions League that in Italian Cup. Not only that: Argentina reached the World Cup final in Qatar and Toro entered the field in every match except the semi-final against Croatia.

Injuries, the concern of FifPro

Looking to the near future, the forecasts are far from rosy. In fact, with the new format of the Champions League, the number of matches will increase. “The increasingly busy schedule is putting a lot more mental and physical stress on today’s footballers than those of the previous generation,” the FifPro secretary general said. Jonas Baer-Hoffmann – and there’s no sign of a solution to protect them. The match schedule from 2024/25 will put more pressure on their health and career. Together, we all have a duty of care to these actors and the industry must accelerate the implementation of actions that look after their health and well-being”. But the risk is that the warning will go unheeded.