“Our sport won’t be doing well for much longer” – Bayern Munich legend Uli Hoeneß is worried about the increasingly bloated schedule

For the vast majority of footballers, little has changed. The number of league games tends to stay the same over the years and the cup competitions remain constant. But for players at the highest level of the sport, things are very different. The added games in the Champions League, the recently introduced UEFA Nations League and the new FIFA Club World Cup are just the tip of the iceberg. Every year, football decision-makers have introduced more games for professionals, which footballers can certainly defend themselves against.

And former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeneß believes this is correct, saying football could well decline if this schedule is maintained:

“Our sport won’t be doing well for much longer,” assessed Hoeneß via @iMiaSanMia. “Human achievement is finite. And if this continues, at some point the players will simply not be able to cope anymore. The pressure has to come from us, the clubs and the players. That’s why I understand that the first players are starting to ignore call-ups to the national team for fear of injuries.”

This is an interesting contrast to the statement of colleague Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who believes that the push for more games results from the players’ desire for higher wages.