Manchester City are set to play their Club World Cup semi-final against Urawa Reds on Tuesday night, but one key player is concerned with future changes implemented by FIFA.
From 2025, FIFA will expand the Club World Cup to 32 teams and move the tournament to the summer, meaning more games and less opportunity for players to rest and recover.
Manchester City and Chelsea have already confirmed their spots in that edition of the tournament, due to their recent Champions League wins. And while the clubs will welcome the expansion, due to more opportunities to earn more money, some players certainly aren't happy with the decision taken by FIFA.
“We were not consulted but we try to do our job,” Manchester City star Bernardo Silva said.
“The reality is that the amount of games we have nowadays, and even more with the new competitions, it’s a bit crazy because of the lack of rest players get, and then the risk of injuries goes up quite a lot.
“In my opinion, for people who love the game, if we have this many games for so long, in the end the games will lose the energy, will lose the intensity. I think it is a top competition so no complaints, but the amount of games and the [schedule] we have nowadays makes it complicated to be fit all the time and for our energy levels to be proper to play well.
The introduction of the Club World Cup will mean European players playing in the tournament won't have a summer off until 2027, due to Euro 2024 and World Cup 2026.
Silva did recognise that elite-level players wanting to win the biggest honours in football will have no choice but to deal with the schedule, suggesting they're victims of their own success.
“I am not going to lie, sometimes I feel tired," he admitted. "We play every three days, we don’t rest. We have no Christmas, we have no summer.
"But that’s the price you pay for being at a top club and fighting for all competitions, and in the end our dream was to play at this level.”
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