'How not to treat a human' - Fifpro on player workload

Australia goalkeeper Mathew Ryan travelled more than 100,000 miles last season - and veteran Luka Modric played more games than anyone else in the world, according to a new Fifpro report into players' welfare.

It also found players at the Fifa Club World Cup - which took place in June and July - did not get a safe amount of off-season or pre-season days.

Football players are caught in a "perfect storm of how not to treat a human", says the international players' union.

Fifpro has launched its fifth annual report on the issue, looking at how much players played and travelled in 2024-25.

Alex Phillips, the secretary general, said: "Last year, the Ballon d'Or winner [Rodri] got injured and missed nearly a season.

"This season, the Ballon d'Or winner [Ousmane Dembele] is out again with a muscle injury.

"How long will this keep happening until even the club owners realise it's bad for business?

"We're looking at the player health issue but even the people owning clubs and leagues are starting to take note and realise the system isn't working for anyone."

The research paper looked into seven sections, including risks to players' health because of calendar congestion and long international travel, the short spell in between seasons, the heat - and how young footballers are playing more than ever.

Among its findings were that Modric, who turned 40 this summer, played more games than any other player in 2024-25, including friendlies - 76 for Real Madrid and Croatia.

Europe-based Ryan had to travel 169,000km (105,000 miles) in the season for Australia duty.

And Lamine Yamal has played 130 games by the age of 18, which is far more than most of his peers ever managed.

The study found the Club World Cup dramatically added to some players' workload too.

Darren Burgess, a high-performance consultant for Fifpro, said: "It's a perfect storm of how not to treat a human - a large number of games and less than the recommended off-season days to go into a large number of games.

"The cycle goes on."

BBC Sport has a look at some of Fifpro's findings.

Too many games

Including internationals and friendly matches, 10 players featured 69 times or more last season - with Modric, now at AC Milan, leading the way with 76.

"It must be noted that all 10 players on the list played at the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup and by far surpassed the recommended maximum limit of 55 match appearances per season," said the Fifpro report.

Four of the top 10 were Paris St-Germain players, with the top two both Real Madrid players - Modric and Federico Valverde.

It also found that Uruguay's Valverde made the most 'back-to-back' appearances - which it counts as matches within five days or 120 hours - 58.

Bayern Munich and South Korea defender Kim Min-jae had a run of 20 games in 73 days.

Fifpro say it "dramatically increased his risk of injury" - and indeed it emerged he suffered an Achilles injury in October, before being sidelined in May.

The players with the most matchday squad appearances were youngsters - Tottenham's Archie Gray and Real's Arda Guler.

Gray, now 19, was at least a substitute on 80 different occasions in 2024-25 for Tottenham and England Under-21s, including friendlies. He played in 63 of them.

Nottingham Forest and New Zealand striker Chris Wood, speaking on a Fifpro video call about the issue, says one or two seasons of 60-odd games is one thing.

"When you are heading into year three, four or five of 60 games, that is when you could see problems arise," he said.

It is an issue his Forest head coach, Ange Postecoglou, also has strong feelings on.

Speaking about the topic to journalists before the Sunderland game, he said: "It's not just the volume of games - players just don't get a break any more.

"You can cope with a workload of 50-55 games a year, excluding internationals, but you need to give the players a minimum of a month off every year and I don't think they are getting that."

Too much travel

Former Brighton keeper Ryan travelled more than any other player in the world - with a distance of more than 100,000 miles - with more than 217 hours spent travelling (the equivalent of nine days of the year).

The Australian started last season in Italy with Roma, before moving to French side Lens in January. Ryan moved to Spain to join Levante this summer.

Just behind him on the list was New Zealand's Marko Stamenic, who was on loan at Olympiacos from Forest - and now plays for Swansea.

And third was another New Zealander Ben Waine, who was on loan at Mansfield Town from Plymouth Argyle.

The 24-year-old, who is now at Port Vale, travelled 157,000km (97,000 miles).

Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana, who was at Manchester United, had 33 different international cross-border trips, crossing 69 time zones.

He travelled 67,000km for Cameroon and 60,000km with United including the Europa League and pre-season tours.

The report also highlights the case of Chelsea and Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo.

In the space of 14 days in October, the report noted, "he played a total of 360 minutes across two continents and three countries, with an average recovery time of 110.8 hours, while flying more than half the length of the equator".

"Sometimes you can be on a plane three hours after finishing a game with Forest for 30 hours of travel," Wood added.

"It's not perfect sitting on a plane. It doesn't give your body enough time to recover from the extreme workload of a game."

Not long enough in between seasons

Top European club and national team players have about three weeks between seasons, says the report.

It compared this to several other sports leagues.

Basketball's NBA has between 14 and 23 weeks off depending on whether teams reached the play-offs.

Aussie rules' Australian Football League and baseball's MLB both had a minimum of 14 weeks too.

High-performance expert Burgess, who has worked for Arsenal and Liverpool, said it shows "how far football has to come compared to other sports".

"The priority [in those other sports] has been placed on player performance and well-being.

"It illustrates it can happen if you get the right people at the table. You can get to a better point."

The Fifpro report said players should have a 28-day off-season, and another 28-day pre-season.

It says none of the teams in the Club World Cup met those targets - including winners Chelsea, who had just finished their domestic season met those.

Austrian club Salzburg resumed training eight days after their exit to prepare for Champions League qualifiers.

Tunisian side Esperance had 10 days off and Benfica had 14 days before they started training for their domestic super cups.

Treble winners and beaten Club World Cup finalists Paris St-Germain had 22 days off but then only seven days of a pre-season.

Winners Chelsea had 20 days off and 13 days of pre-season.

Young players featuring more than ever

Lamine Yamal played 130 times for Barcelona and Spain before turning 18 in July.

Fifpro highlights that other players who played for both teams had much fewer appearances at that age - including legend Andres Iniesta (40), one-time wonderkid Ansu Fati (45) and current team-mates Pedri (49) and Gavi (60).

Lamine Yamal is a bit of an exception because he is already such a talent - finishing second in the 2025 Ballon d'Or.

But there is a pattern.

None of the seven winners of the Golden Boy (award for best player aged under 21) from 2010 to 2016 had played 2,000 minutes before turning 18.

But seven of the next eight did. And the past four years produced the four highest figures - led by Lamine Yamal's 8,158 minutes.

Burgess called the issue "alarming".

"Players until the age of 24 and 25 are still growing and maturing," he said.

"To expose them to excessive load is to expose them to a greater injury risk.

"We're seeing those players eventually break down. It's unknown territory. "

Will anything change?

Forest striker Wood says the threat of striking is "a potential thing" but "we don't ever want to get to that point".

Fifpro has been campaigning for a less demanding football calendar for many years, while watching player workload rise.

But the body does not feel it is all doom and gloom.

Director Alexander Bielefeld said: "When we started with this five years ago there was a lot of pushback and people saying it was a non-issue.

"If we look at the media landscape and discourse now I don't think anyone disputes this is an issue. On that scale we've moved.

"We're not at the stage where people want to give up part of their competitions or see players miss the competitions. We haven't been able to implement these safeguards.

"There are legal cases ongoing and a significant shift in the discourse. We need urgent action but we're in a very different space to two or three years ago."

Postecoglou also says more and more games can cut fans' enjoyment of the game.

"I just don't think there's a same sense of excitement if we keep creating tournaments or games," he said.

"We used to look forward to games but now there are times, particularly in the off-season when everyone wants to go on holiday when there are games on everyone goes, 'I'll just head down to the beach instead'."

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