With a slew of big names such as Gavi, Warren Zaire-Emery and Vinicius Junior having picked up injuries while on national duty, it begs the question: Are the increasingly frequent international breaks worth the price they are costing?
Although some might argue that injuries are part of the game, there's been a devastating spike in the number of players being sidelined and many are now starting to put the blame on the amount of matches being introduced to the football calendar. According to ESPN, fixture congestion has been at the fore of the problem, with the frequency of international breaks, the introduction of new competitions, and the expansion of tournaments taking its toll on players.
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A recently published study by insurance group Howden shows that in the 2022/23 season – which was interrupted by a mid-season FIFA World Cup – injuries to the ankle rose by 170%, to the calf/shin went up by 200%, and hamstring setbacks were up by 130%. It is almost irrefutable that the schedule is a serious driver of these worrying numbers, but there are growing suggestions that international fixtures should be sacrificed instead of club games.
Indeed, international games seem to have lower appeal than domestic games in Europe's top five leagues, with the big-name players often scattered across the world representing their countries from various confederations. Admittedly, the competitiveness of national team games tends to depend on the quality of the available opposition mostly within the continent.
For example, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is recognised as the greatest active player of Arab descent, and arguably the Reds' most important footballer. While more than 50 000 supporters can passionately chant his name at Anfield on a regular basis in the Premier League, the experience is utterly different when he is wearing his Egypt colours representing his country in FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Salah recently scored four goals against Djibouti but that has barely made the headlines one assumes it would if he was to do so in a Liverpool jersey.
France claimed a record-breaking 14-0 win over Gibraltar in the UEFA European Championship qualifier on the weekend but one of the things that stood out the most about the occasion is the injury that Zaire-Emery sustained. Various pundits and former players have bemoaned the fact that the 17-year-old has now been ruled out for the rest of 2023 due to the injury he suffered on his senior international debut. The same sort of backlash was presented in the case of Gavi, whose entire season is now over because of a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during Spain's game against Georgia on Sunday.
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The welfare of players is now coming under the spotlight, and it seems the reduction of international games could be the most feasible compromise from both a commercial and sporting level. However, it appears that even this particular solution would be difficult to implement after FIFA expanded the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams – meaning more games will be played heading into the next editions of the tournament.
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