Arsene Wenger has hit back at the “negativity” around player welfare and argued the current World Cup shows how footballers’ careers can last longer than ever.
Player welfare is constantly in the spotlight, but it has been even more so over the past few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a winter World Cup making the football calendar even more congested.
Wenger however, who is Fifa’s head of global football development, has argued that Qatar2022 has shown how players’ careers are starting earlier and finishing later.
The former Arsenal manager has pointed to the fact that the likes of Lionel Messi, Luka Modric and Olivier Giroud have enjoyed good tournaments when they are 35 or older, while Wenger also highlighted Germany teenager Jamal Musiala as evidence of young players breaking through earlier.
“I played in 2006 a Champions League final against Barcelona,” said Wenger, who was speaking at a technical study group briefing in Doha.
“Messi was starting to play in the team. That’s 2006. We are in 2022. That’s 16 years later and he is still in the contest for being the player of the tournament. So overall, we are all grateful for the pleasure he has given us in these 16 years ... this tournament shows the evolution of modern sport.
“Jurgen [Klinsmann] spoke about Musiala, this tournament is about the young players who are ready earlier and earlier in top-level sport.
“But it as well the tournament of players who last longer and longer than ever before. We have not experienced tournaments, World Cups, with 35-year-old players being dominant - but you have Giroud, Messi and Modric, who is 37 years old.
“The dominant players at this tournament shows - despite all the negativity about health of players and welfare of players - the life of a top-level sportsman last longer. They are ready earlier and they finish later.”
