The Tight Competition Schedule Makes FIFPro Question The Player's Fitness Management
JAKARTA - European football leagues have started again since last June. Some of them have even been completed, such as the Bundesliga and Serie A. In the midst of a busy schedule in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Professional Footballers Association, FIFPro is now questioning the fitness management of players.
Launching Antara, Tuesday, July 21, FIFPro Secretary General Jonas Baer-Hoffmann asked for a safety net for players to prevent injury. This is because the schedule congestion caused by this pandemic will occur over the next three years.
"There is a big question mark about player fitness management in the middle of this busy period of the schedule,"
FIFPro Secretary General Jonas Baer-Hoffmann
"We can't leave everything to individual considerations, because everyone knows how much pressure is put on the players and nobody has benefited from the added injury," he added.
The COVID-19 pandemic has suspended competition in Europe from March for 3-4 months before starting again. In fact, in other parts of the world, the impact period is longer.
Instead of working around this by cutting the number of matches, most federations and leagues chose to keep the schedule of matches in shorter periods. This certainly increases the risk of fatigue for the players.
Only UEFA has chosen to cut down on the home-away format for the Champions League and Europa League when it completes their 2019/20 season competition as well as the qualifying phase for the following season.
"From now on for the next three years, the competition calendar is too tight," said Baer-Hoffmann.
"The only solution is to design a framework to manage player fitness and ensure there is a recovery period. We need friendly rules and based on medical standards," he concluded.
The Premier League and the Italian League are the last two top leagues that have not yet been completed in Europe, accompanied by the FA Cup final in England.
Meanwhile, the Champions League and Europa League are planned to be continued in mid-August in a centralized format in a predetermined location until the final.