Manchester City midfielder and Belgium captain Kevin De Bruyne said money talks louder to FIFA and UEFA and expressed concern about the impact of a packed schedule on players' health and performance.
All three European club competitions have been expanded to 36 teams this season and FIFPRO's European member unions have launched legal action against FIFA over the expanded 32-team Men's Club World Cup, which kicks off in the United States next June.
The 33-year-old was asked if he was worried about the extra games in club and international competitions. “The real problem will come after the Club World Cup,” De Bruyne told reporters ahead of Friday's Nations League game against Israel. Belgium won the match 3-1, with De Bruyne scoring twice.
“We know that there will only be three weeks between the Club World Cup final and the first Premier League game, so we have three weeks to rest and prepare for another 80 games.”
In July, footballers' union FIFPRO said it would lodge a complaint with EU antitrust regulators regarding FIFA's international match calendar.
A report released by FIFPRO on Thursday said some players are given as little as 12% of the year to rest, a result of competition organisers failing to prioritise player welfare.
“Maybe this year everything will go well, but next year there could be problems. The Professional Footballers' Association of England and other players' associations have tried to find solutions,” he added.
“The problem is that UEFA and FIFA keep adding extra matches and we can raise concerns, but no solution has been found. It seems that money speaks louder than the voice of the players.”
A report by the Centre International d'Etudes du Sport (CIES) said there was no clear evidence of an increase in the workload of elite players since the 2000s.
The independent Swiss research centre, founded in 1995 in a joint venture including FIFA, reported that reigning Club World Cup champions City played almost 63% of their official matches in league-organised competitions during the 2023-2024 season.
Club friendlies accounted for 4.8% of City's total matches, while FIFA-organised matches accounted for 3.2% and UEFA matches accounted for 17.7%.
Last season, England recorded the highest number of consecutive domestic fixtures (87) among the major European leagues, and Premier League clubs averaged the shortest recovery time between games, 67.3 hours.
