Many players competing in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup are doing so on the back of a gruelling schedule for their clubs and national teams, according to the latest findings published by FIFPRO and Football Benchmark’s Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) tool.
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, the 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.
The latest findings indicate a trend among players in Europe’s five biggest leagues – Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 – not getting enough rest, with just 13 percent of those who participated in either EURO 2024 or Copa America receiving the recommended 28-days off-season break.
With this context, many players who are taking part in the Club World Cup do so on the back of another demanding season. Federico Valverde in the 2024/25 season has racked up 5,971 minutes of football for Real Madrid and Uruguay before a ball has been kicked in USA. Enzo Fernandez, who is predicted to play up to 70 matches before the end of the Club World Cup, made 28 international trips in 2024/25 for Argentina in World Cup qualifiers and during Chelsea’s run to the UEFA Conference League final.
These two players are further examples of the concerns raised by FIFPRO Europe and European Leagues who, together with LaLiga, filed a complaint to the European Commission against FIFA over its conduct concerning the imposition of the international match calendar, including decisions relating to the Club World Cup.
The complaint, made in October 2024, explains that FIFA’s conflict of interest as a competition organiser and governing body, coupled with a lack of meaningful engagement with social partners, infringes European Union competition law.
A FIFPRO-commissioned report published in November 2024 by Belgian University KU Leuven said that the professional football sector is failing in its duty to apply required safety standards for players and, as a result, is violating existing legal frameworks at a European and global level.
While Barcelona may not have qualified for the Club World Cup, many in their squad have still experienced a demanding season. Spain’s Pedri, who in 2022 at the age of 20 had played more than 12,000 minutes (25 percent more minutes than Xavi at the same age), made 67 appearances in the 2024/25 season, with 81 percent of these matches occurring back-to-back.
Pedri’s team-mate for club and country, Lamine Yamal, has also experienced a high workload since winning EURO 2024 with Spain last July; the 17-year-old featured in 60 matches last season. The pair are two of the five Barcelona players (alongside Raphinha, Pau Cubarsi and Jules Kounde) to feature in the PWM platform’s top ten footballers to play in “back-to-back” matches.
To browse the FIFPRO Men’s Player Workload Monitoring tool, head HERE. To explore the Women’s Player Workload Monitoring tool, visit HERE.
