Elite football's fixture load and the 55-game season debate
The elite schedule is called unsustainable because one player can owe matches to several competitions at once, and their club, national team and competition organisers all plan their own dates separately.
Player workload in the elite game
Player workload is the total demand placed on a footballer across a season: competitive matches, travel between them, training, and the recovery time in between. For most supporters the season looks like one thing, the league campaign. For a player at a leading Premier League club it is several seasons stacked on top of each other: the domestic league, two domestic cup competitions, a European club tournament and, for internationals, qualifying and tournament fixtures for their country.
The phrase "55-game season" in the BBC's reporting describes the workload a leading player can now face when all those strands are added together. It is not a fixed number that any competition sets. It falls out of several separate calendars overlapping, and the overlap is the issue. No single body decides how many matches one player plays. Each organiser plans its own competition, and the player is where those plans meet.
The BBC notes that the Premier League has just come back from a three-week pause, but that for many of its best-known players the pause was no break at all. During league pauses, international players usually report to their national teams. A gap in the club calendar is often a full working period for the people the gap seems to protect.
Origins of the crowded calendar
The congestion has no single cause. It has built up as each part of the game added fixtures for its own reasons, mostly commercial ones.
At club level, European competition has been restructured more than once to give more matches to more clubs. The latest Champions League format replaced the old group stage with a single league phase. Each club now plays more opponents before the knockout rounds, and some clubs face an extra play-off round. FIFA has also expanded its Club World Cup into a larger tournament. That adds a commitment for qualifying clubs in a part of the year that used to be kept for rest.
International football has changed the same way. Competitions such as the Nations League turned what were often friendly fixtures into competitive matches. Qualifying windows are grouped into set periods during the club season. Major tournaments for national teams then take up the summer.
Domestically, England is unusual in keeping two national cup competitions as well as its league, and many clubs value that tradition. Each organiser has a case for its own fixtures. The trouble is that no one adds them all up from the player's point of view.
The calendar in practice
The modern calendar works through a series of agreements on timing rather than on overall volume. FIFA publishes an international match calendar that names the windows when clubs must release players to national teams. The confederations, including UEFA in Europe, fit their club competitions around those windows. National leagues and associations then fit their own fixtures into whatever dates remain.
For a Premier League club, this means the league schedule is fixed once European and international dates are known. Television selection then moves individual matches to different days and kick-off times. A club playing in Europe midweek can find its weekend league fixture moved, which can shorten or lengthen recovery time depending on where it lands.
Squad size is the main tool clubs have. Premier League rules limit how many senior players a club can register, with separate provisions for homegrown players and those under a certain age. European competitions have their own registration lists. So clubs cannot simply recruit their way out of the problem. They have to rotate within a fixed group, and the players coaches rely on most tend to be the ones who play most often.
Player representatives have increasingly pushed the case for guaranteed rest periods. These would include a minimum off-season and a minimum gap between matches, as an entitlement rather than a matter of goodwill. Players' unions at national and international level have said the issue concerns working conditions as well as sport. Legal challenges over who has authority to set the calendar have been part of that argument. The details of any agreement still under negotiation are not known.
Common misreadings
The most common mistake is to treat a league break as a rest break. As the BBC's reporting makes clear, a pause in the Premier League often means international duty for the players who are in highest demand. A long gap between league rounds says little about how much rest an individual has had.
A second misreading is that every player at a big club carries the same load. Workload is spread very unevenly. Squad members who play rarely may want more matches, while a small number of key players may be in constant use across every competition. A figure such as fifty-five games describes the top end, not a typical player.
A third is the idea that one body could fix the calendar alone. The Premier League controls its own fixtures but not European or international dates. UEFA controls its competitions but not the domestic cups. FIFA sets international windows and runs its own club tournament. Any lasting change needs these bodies to cooperate, and each also earns from the fixtures it organises.
Finally, people sometimes assume more matches simply mean more income for everyone. Broadcast and sponsorship deals do reward extra fixtures, but clubs also bear the cost of larger squads, travel and the risk of losing key players for long spells. How those costs balance out differs from club to club, and there is no public, agreed accounting of it.
Further reading for the curious
Readers who want to understand the calendar should start with the primary documents. FIFA publishes its international match calendar and its rules on releasing players to national teams. UEFA publishes the regulations for its club competitions, including registration rules and the match calendar for each edition. The Premier League handbook sets out squad registration, homegrown requirements and the rules for scheduling and moving fixtures.
For the players' side, the representative bodies are the main source. In England that is the Professional Footballers' Association, and internationally FIFPRO, the global players' union, which publishes workload research. Reading their positions alongside the governing bodies' regulations shows where the disagreements lie: over who sets the calendar, how much rest players are owed, and who decides when the limit has been reached.
Frequently asked questions
Why do footballers say the schedule is not sustainable?
Players at leading clubs take part in several competitions at once: league, domestic cups, European football and international matches. Each competition is planned separately, so no single body controls a player's total load. Representatives say this leaves too little time to recover between matches and too short an off-season, and they treat the issue as a matter of working conditions as well as sport.
Do Premier League players rest during international breaks?
Often not. When the Premier League pauses, international players usually report to their national teams for qualifying or competitive fixtures. The BBC has reported that the league's recent three-week pause brought no real rest for many of its leading players. A gap in the club calendar can mean more travel and more matches for the players most in demand, rather than recovery.
How can a player end up playing 55 games in a season?
No competition sets that figure. It results from fixtures piling up across several tournaments. A player at a top club may play league matches, rounds of both domestic cups, an expanded European league phase and knockout ties, plus international fixtures. Clubs that go deep in every competition add more matches, and players their coaches rely on heavily build up the largest totals.
Who decides the football calendar?
Several bodies share the job. FIFA sets the international match calendar and the windows when clubs must release players. UEFA schedules European club competitions around those windows. National leagues and football associations then set domestic fixtures in the remaining dates, and broadcasters influence individual kick-off times. Because authority is split this way, no single organisation can cut the overall number of matches on its own.
Can clubs just use bigger squads to cope with more games?
Only up to a point. The Premier League limits how many senior players a club can register and adds requirements for homegrown players, and European competitions have their own registration lists. Larger squads also raise wage costs. Rotation helps spread the load, but coaches tend to rely on their strongest players in important matches, so the heaviest workload usually still falls on a small group.
Sources and further reading
- BBC Sport: reporting on the elite schedule and players' workload during the recent Premier League break
- FIFA: international match calendar and regulations on releasing players to national teams
- UEFA: club competition regulations, including formats and squad registration rules
- FIFPRO and the Professional Footballers' Association: positions and research on player workload and rest