Football's Fixture Schedule Is OUT OF CONTROL (but who is responsible for fixing it?)

[@ellcaa4220]

One thing that often gets overlooked is that the fixture congestion impacts the top players way more. Real Madrid players have the league and Copa del Rey. But... also the Champions League, the UEFA Supercup, the Spanish Supercup, The Club World Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. And a lot of them play in all the international games for their country too. Contrast that to a player from... I don't know. Osasuna - just La Liga and Copa Del Rey. That's it. Most players won't even go on international breaks. So they get more rest. Which not only means the players aren't strained as much, but also they're fresher in the matches, giving them sporting advantage. Great video as always! But I do think you confused one issue that doesn't belong - the one regarding young players like Jude Bellingham having so many minutes in their legs already at the young age. It's not quite down to what the schedule is, but more down to how player development changed. I guess the one connection is that managers are incentivized to play young players for various reasons even if it's not good for the players themselves in the long run. But if you cut the fixture congestion, young players STILL would have a lot more minutes under their belt over most of the superstars that came before them. And yes, it IS a big nitpick. As I said, FANTASTIC video as always, very thoughtful and interesting!

[@Football434]

Thanks for watching! For your first point - yep, I address this, not all players face the same schedule For your second point - im not sure I agree. Vini Jr has played more professional minutes than Ronaldinho had at the same age, is Vini the better player? Or is the schedule just so insane now that managers feel they have no choice to constantly play the youngster as they have to win?

[@ellcaa4220]

@@Football434 With the way the player 'market' is right now, there's a very big incentive to play young talent and hype it up in order for the selling club to get a higher fee. And the coaching methods have changed, so I do think players hit higher levels earlier. You can say Vini played more because his coaches needed the wins and thus were incentivized to play him, but that concedes that he was good enough at young age to win matches. It's the same dynamic coaches faced 20 years ago. I don't think Gerrard or Beckham's coaches were like "Yeah, they would make the team better, but I will bench them for the sake of their own long time health". No, if the coaches thought they'd help them win, they'd play. If you cut the amount of matches in half, Borussia Dortmund would STILL play Bellingham in every match then can, and he would still have more minutes under his belt than Beckham. I don't want to compare Ronaldinho and Vini in particular, and that's just one example anyway. But I do think with the modern coaching and player development, these days really talented players tend to achieve high level earlier than they used to.

[@mechkota]

The problem is that no one could give solution to the fixture congestion without upsetting some of the interest groups. The EPL(and other big leagues) do not want to reduce the teams, UEFA do not want to reduce European games and the teams from smaller leagues also do not want reduction of the Europeans matches because this is there big revenue and exposure, UEFA and FIFA are not willing to reduce the international games(most boring part of the season) and no one wants to scrap the League cup because is going to upset the teams from the lower leagues. etc.

[@tommyjames3105]

The sad state of affairs is that like many things in life, it’s not going to change until someone gets seriously hurt. Great video as always!

[@rotex03]

It's a vicious circle that's hard to break. And it hits the biggest stars because the audience pay their tickets to see Belingham and Yamal play. Osasuna and Getafe don't have that pressure because they don't have superstars on that level.

[@fedreccinnodante4799]

Unfortunately the toothpaste is out of the tube. None of these entities will be willing to sacrifice games inorder to benefit the players. It's the commercial landscape that football finds itself in! Plus it's slightly humourous how club football fans are all of the sudden conscious of the player's health, when an international break appears.

[@Football434]

Also humorous how concerned people are about 'pointless' international breaks, but no one has an issue with an August club friendly in 40 degree heat on a plastic pitch in California.

[@ryvn..]

Glad to have you back mate! Lookin forward to sitting down with this tonight 👍

[@Football434]

Thanks, appreciate it

[@rotex03]

It is also a factor of footballer's prices - you wouldn't pay 100 million € for players like Harry Kane or Kylian Mbape, only to play them once a week. It's about squeezing the juice as much as possible because you paid for it, and also because you need all of the possible points in the tournaments. You cannot put a B team against Southampton to rest the players for the match against Ajax in Champions League because you don't know if you will lose the title to Man City later because you forfeited one match before.

[@encorefootball]

The anti-Bosman in me would prefer to see a hard, heavy cap on foreigners in the big 5 leagues. And allow the smaller European leagues in Estonia and Ireland to have more access to decent foreign players. Therefore UEFA won't have to permit so many teams from the big 5 nations to compete in the Champions League and the other two cups. I want to see more teams from Eastern Europe and the Nordic nations in the European cup rounds because I can see myself getting bored of Barca vs Ac Milan with the new UCL format very soon. I don't care what that does to viewing figures and revenue, we aren’t getting another Red Star Belgrade or Porto winning the UCL (Olympiakos winning the Conference doesn’t count). Anyway, we live in a manager led era of club football, you don’t get many Ronaldos, Messis, Ronaldinhos, Figos, Ginolas like the past. I can't really see a hard cap on foreigners limiting big European clubs and their UCL results as some may believe. The only effect would be the loss of interest in the Premier League from certain nations due to the fact none of their players will be competing in English club football. Why not let them play in Norway, MLS or Australia?

[@mitonaarea5856]

28:00 Interesting. What ya think about Othani??

[@Football434]

Good looking

[@mrdbzfann]

Yay another upload!

[@Football434]

Every month!

[@GNMbg]

I want it to stay that way, it benefits me a lot, thank you

[@-VForValhalla-]

Great video mate. Doing my bit to help you with the algorithm.

[@Football434]

Appreciate it

[@-VForValhalla-]

@@Football434 Yeah "the algorithm" can be ruthless indeed. But as far as I remember, I found your channel on my recommended tab. So could be a small hope. Really like your videos as they are very well put together. So hope you don't get disheartened and stop someday.

[@rydendk]

Why not just let bubble burst? If those who can do something about the mess wont hear, then let them feel. A total reset might actually open up the game, including the domestic and international tournaments.

[@OrangeJuiceJaz]

Great video xoxo

[@leatilemolebatsi4650]

Only 28 minutes 😢

[@Football434]

Always a bit worried these things are too long! Not the other way around

[@encorefootball]

To sum up my rant in two words: venture capitalism. Not only are the likes of PSG obliged to play star names because of their market values and wages, but we also have Chelsea buying and flogging youngsters for profit.