Real Madrid coach Ancelotti: “Football needs to take a look at itself”

The Italian coach was asked for his view on the growing discontent relating to the packed fixture list.

Real Madrid face Espanyol at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday as part of matchday six of the 2024-25 LaLiga season with head coach Carlo Ancelotti addressing the media ahead of the game.

The Italian was asked for his view on the growing groundswell of discontent expressed by a number of high profile players with the likes of Man City’s Rodri, FC Barcelona defender Kounde and Madrid’s Carvajal alluding to possible ‘strike’ option as a deterrent to stop the games’ governing institutions from increasing the number of games played over a season.

With Real Madrid involved in seven major competitions this season (LaLiga, Champions League, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental and expanded Club World Cup) their players could potentially play almost 75-80 games over the 2024-25 campaign.

Ancelotti was frank in expressing his view on the hectic schedule stating: ‘Football needs to take a look at itself. Surely the idea is to play less games so that players are not subject to getting injured more often.

“If this means that players would have to take a wage cut, I’m sure that the common objective is to play less games and I’m sure that the players would not have any major issue in taking a salary reduction if the outcome lead to playing less”.

The Italian added: ‘Things are not going to change this season but it’s something that need to be thought through. UEFA and FIFA realize the toll more games takes on players and the objective is for future change. The calendar this season will not change but the players are thinking about changing the future of the game”.