Football writes grotesques. Below the photo of “citizen” Rodri with crutches, after being examined at the Orthopedic Clinic in Barcelona, the caption could read that FIFA president Gianni Infantino met with leading global broadcasters about the transmission of an expanded (!) Club World Cup.
Aristotle’s saying goes: everything in moderation. The creators of the football competition calendar seem to have forgotten this ancient wisdom. The novelty is a Club World Cup with 32 clubs, 12 of which are from Europe, six from South America, four from Asia, Africa, North and Central America, and one from Oceania. The championship will take place from June 15 to July 13, 2025, in the United States. The initial spark for its creation seems to have been found among the pages of the 11-year contract the NBA signed with ESPN/ABC, NBCU, and Amazon Prime Video, worth $76 billion. FIFA’s main card was Apple, but it withdrew from negotiations at the beginning of the year. Other potential broadcasters have not shown the expected financial interest either. After all, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Milan, and other giants are not on the participants’ list. And Gianni Infantino took action.
Rodri was the main candidate for the “Ballon d’Or,” FIFA’s award for the best footballer of the year. He practically plunged into the Premier League season with Manchester City right after winning EURO 2024 with the Spanish national team. His anterior cruciate ligaments are torn. Will the football calendar one day suffer the same fate?
Even Aristotle, in this football situation, would fall to his knees like Rodri did against Arsenal. Excess in all forms, overscheduling, and the race for money have become the characteristics of modern football.
What should not be forgotten is that European football has its pure gold: the UEFA Champions League. The world’s highest-quality club competition. Its value and strength lie in the direct connection with national leagues. The consistency of your placement in the domestic league determines your coefficient as an entry ticket to European competitions.
“Citizen” Rodri, even before his serious injury—which might sideline him for more than half a year—warned about the dangers of a congested schedule, with sometimes over 70 matches, both club and international, in a season, as well as the constant testing of the endurance limits of his colleagues. For the first time, a serious strike threat has come from the players’ union as a solution to humanize the competition calendar. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola relayed from the locker room: the players are ready to give up part of their earnings if it means reducing the number of matches.
National leagues and clubs have also raised their voices. They need strong and interesting competitions, which cannot happen with players constantly testing their physical and mental limits. As an illustration, they cited the start of this year’s Premier League season: a well-rested Erling Haaland (Norway) flew across the pitch and scored goals, while a tired Phil Foden (who played with England in the European Championship) was far from the goal, from ideas, and essentially from his best form seen in most of the previous season. Clubs view the arrangement of new, longer, and more demanding competitions as reaching into their pockets. Especially since they bear the main risk in this production of entertainment and profit.
To conclude, I would mention what Paulo Coelho wrote: “You must get used to a little sadness in life. You won’t know what true happiness is unless you have something to compare it with.”
And football is precisely an etalon, a measure for comparison.
Beautiful, even when you are waiting for it!
