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Manchester City midfielder Rodri says players are close to going on strike in protest at an increase in games.
City face Inter Milan on Wednesday in the Champions League, with a new format adding at least two extra games before the knockout stage.
The Club World Cup – which Pep Guardiola’s side are also involved in – has also expanded to 32 teams and will be held next summer.
“I think we are close to that,” said Rodri when asked whether players will strike.
“If it keeps this way, it will be a moment that we have no other option, but let’s see.”
The new Champions League and Club World Cup formats mean City will play at least four extra matches compared to last season’s guaranteed fixtures.
They played just two games to win the Club World Cup in December, but next summer would need to play three group games and four knockout matches if they were to go all the way.
Across the past two full seasons, City played 120 times across all competitions.
Rodri’s 63 games in 343 days in 2023-24
Fifpro – the union for the top European league and global players – recently described legal action against FIFA for its increased game schedule as “inevitable”.
Spain midfielder Rodri featured 63 times for club and country last season, on the way to winning the Premier League and European Championship within the space of two months.
Speaking after the Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid in April, Rodri said he “needed a rest” during the season run-in.
He missed City’s first three matches of this season and returned for their 2-1 win over Brentford on Saturday, six days after playing for Spain in the UEFA Nations League.
After such a long 2023-24 season – which started competitively on August 6, 2023, and ended 343 days later, on 14 July – Rodri said he needed a longer break than he was initially given.
“It was great for my legs, great for me, I had one month, and I [still] needed to recover a bit – so two months to stop a bit and prepare myself,” Rodri explained.
“It is even more important nowadays. It helps me a lot. When they start pre-season, I watch them but try to disconnect, and the mental health – in that sense – is important, to refresh and move on.”
According to a recent Fifpro report on player workload, Rodri was included in 72 matchday squads for club and country, including pre-season friendlies, between July 2023 and July 2024 – totaling 6,107 minutes on the pitch.
Rodri played more than 550 minutes for Spain at Euro 2024, featuring in each of the seven games until coming off injured at half-time in the final.
The report said that a player welfare ‘red line’ was playing a maximum of between 50 and 60 matches per season, depending on a player’s age.
Players and managers speaking out
Rodri’s comments come less than 24 hours after Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson spoke out against the changes in schedule.
City defender Manuel Akanji recently suggested that because of the increased schedule, he would have to retire when he is 30 due to the lack of breaks during the season.
And Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said the club are considering giving their players holidays during the season in order to combat the increase in fixtures.
FIFA has previously responded to calendar criticism by accusing some leagues of “acting with commercial self-interest” and “hypocrisy” by sending their players on “extensive” global pre-season tours.
A FIFA spokesman said in July: “By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game.”
How likely is a player’s strike?
Rodri has suggested a player’s strike could be “close” but, in reality, will one actually take place?
In July, Fifpro said it would take legal action against FIFA over its “abuse of dominance” in football.
Fifpro’s statement read: “FIFA’s decisions over the last years have repeatedly favored its own competitions and commercial interests, neglected its responsibilities as a governing body, and harmed the economic interests of national leagues and the welfare of players.
“Legal action is now the only responsible step for European leagues and player unions to protect football, its ecosystem and its workforce.”
A spokesperson from the PFA has suggested that, should players not be listened to, they will “begin to consider all options available to them”.
“In recent weeks our members have made their feelings very clear when it comes to the fixture calendar and player workload.
“Players are repeatedly saying that enough is enough, and this must now act as a serious wake-up call to the authorities.”
However, speaking last week on the global football calendar, La Liga president Javier Tebas said the schedule has increased only for a small number of elite players.
“We always think of 150 or 200 players who play all the games. But in Europe, there are more than 50,000 players who don’t play all those games and don’t have the problem of the match load,” Tebas told BBC Sport.
“Football cannot be governed by what happens to 250 players, but by the rest because, in addition, all these new tournaments would economically empty the national leagues and impact the salaries of other players with fewer club revenues.”
And a recent study by the CIES Football Observatory – a research group at the International Centre for Sports Studies, external – on schedules and player workload suggested most clubs are not playing more matches per season.
Its report found that between 2012 and 2024, the average number of fixtures per club and season sat at just over 40, with about 5% of clubs playing 60 or more games per season.
While there is little precedent for players striking in elite sport, in 1961, Jimmy Hill campaigned for the end to the maximum wage cap for footballers. After threatening strike action, the then £20-a-week maximum wage was scrapped by the Football Association.
Analysis: ‘Player disparity makes strike consensus hard to reach’
Chief football news reporter Simon Stone:
Strike action has been threatened many times in the modern game but rarely has it actually happened – and nothing on the scale envisaged.
MLS players came within days of walking out prior to the start of the 2010 campaign, but their pay issue was resolved. There are instances of players at individual Spanish clubs refusing to play after their wages weren’t paid.
The issue here is which games would be targeted – Premier League? EFL Cup? Champions League? There are different organizers for every competition. Who would be targeted?
And while Rodri – at the top of his profession – has a burnout issue, a player at a Premier League club that doesn’t qualify for Europe and gets knocked out in the first available round of both domestic competitions only has a maximum 40 games to play.
That disparity makes consensus among all players appear difficult to reach – and it is not entirely clear what the PFA’s plan is, even if their legal action is successful.
Credit: myjoyonline.com
