Many star players bound for this season’s FIFA Club World Cup are among the most overworked, according to new data released by FIFPRO and Football Benchmark.
The introduction of a 32-team Club World Cup, which will be played in USA from 14 June to 13 July 2025, has drawn criticism from footballers and their unions, who have raised questions about player welfare with the dangerous levels of workload, increased games and shorter rest periods. In addition to the new competition, the broader issue of calendar congestion and overlapping competitions continues to place increasing demands on players.
Updated quarterly, FIFPRO’s Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) platform tracks metrics relating to the match load, recovery and travel of 1,500 professional men’s players worldwide. The data has now been updated to 1 April 2025.
New findings show several Club World Cup-bound players are among the most overworked for the 2024/25 season already, with Benfica’s Kerem Akturkoglu making the most appearances (55) followed by the likes of Real Madrid’s Luka Modric (54); Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez and Real’s Federico Valverde are among players on 53 appearances up until 1 April 2025.
It is estimated that Uruguayan Valverde, who has made 43 back-to-back appearances up until 1 April with less than five days of recovery time prior to these matches, could potentially reach 65 back-to-back appearances for club and country come the end of the season, racking up close to 7,000 minutes and 78 games.
