Ruben Dias offered a glimpse into the gruelling schedule in store for the Manchester City defender and other elite-level footballers amid concerns of player burnout.
The Portugal centre back made 45 appearances for the Premier League champions last campaign, plus a further seven for his national team. This season is expected to be another long and breathless marathon with Pep Guardiola ’s side tipped to progress far on multiple fronts.
Dias is not the only elite-level footballer staring down a concerningly crowded schedule. FIFA have been warned that players could fight back against the ongoing congestion, with next season threatening to make the diatribe around player burnout hit breaking point.
And Dias, taking to X, gave supporters a rare glimpse as to what he's expecting in another brutal season when he posted a screenshot of complicated colour-coded City’s schedule, alongside the caption “POV: You play for City” and a nervous sweating emoji.
City’s season officially commences this weekend when the reigning league champions face Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley.
From there, players dive head-first into a schedule that offers little respite until its very end, with days and weekends crowded by Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup games, along with international duties.
Also included is the expanded Club World Cup to be held next June.
The fixture calendar has been a source of ire for players and managers in recent years. Guardiola has been a particularly vociferous critic of the increasing lack of recovery time afforded players.
“I am against the lack of time to recover from year to year,” he said. “This is what I am complaining (about) all the time. For me it doesn't matter to play every three days, six days, seven days. It is OK.
“But it is really tough to finish the season and then in three weeks restart again and go to Asia, to be financially stable, or the States. That is really, really tough, for ourselves and especially for the players. For myself, things should change.”
Earlier this year, player’s union FIFPRO warned that strike action would be considered if action wasn’t taken to adjust demands on players, with FIFPro’s Europe president David Terrier claiming there was “an emergency” around growing mental and physical fatigue of players.
The warning arrived shortly after a season review into workload and recovery from the union. A player review revealed that more than 50% of respondents said they had been forced to play while carrying an injury, while 82% of managers said they had fielded a player they knew required a rest.