LONDON — Twenty-five Premier League players played the full 360 minutes across four matches during the extended international break, underlining warnings that the elite calendar is no longer sustainable. The group included 13 players who featured for their clubs at the World Cup, among them Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, who played 55 games for his club last season. Van Dijk is one of several players including England's Declan Rice, Morgan Rogers and Harry Kane who logged more than 4,000 minutes in all competitions in 2025-26 and have started this season on a similar trajectory.
Expert sports scientists and psychologists say that load cannot be maintained. "It is not sustainable," Dr Dave Richardson, head of psychology, sports science and wellbeing at the University of Lincoln, told BBC Sport. "We will start to see more clamour when we are not happy with the quality of performances; the public pay to see high quality." The strain is already visible in withdrawals, with Cole Palmer — who missed the 2026 World Cup after struggling last season with chronic injury — Marcus Rashford, Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento all pulling out of the England squad before the latest window, while Germany's Kai Havertz and France captain Kylian Mbappe also withdrew.
Maheta Molango, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, said the withdrawals were emblematic of a "sick" system. "When England see five players who need to withdraw when the single most proud moment a player has is to be called up for the national team, you just ask yourself, what's wrong about the industry?" Molango said. "They love to play for England. They love to play for their national team. But, unfortunately, your body puts a limit to it. You cannot cheat biology." Molango wants a mandatory three-week summer break and a three-week retraining period every summer, but Dr Richardson warned that reform is blocked by a fractured governance structure. "The problem is that there is no one body covering the playing schedule, and they all want predominance," he said. "They are all vying for the spotlight and championing their product as the best. Without that overarching independent body, it may not be sustainable."
Dr Chris James, an expert in the impact of sleep on sports performance and psychology lecturer at Cardiff University, said men's football is failing in its duty of care. "Particularly in the men's game, there is a culture where you need to look like they are coping," he told BBC Sport. "It is like going back in time, with attitudes to mental health." Former England defender Matt Upson, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live during the Nations League home match versus the Czech Republic, said the extended early break had positives and negatives, noting it helps managers work on the training pitch and break down barriers in the dressing room, but "four games in this period is a lot at this stage of the season, after a summer of competing as well."
Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson argued that proper provision between matches is essential but that attempts to enforce rest would be resisted by players themselves. He said mid-season often allows only two days' preparation and two days' recovery, yet questioned whether stars would accept being stood down for a Nations League final next summer. Dr James warned the short-term high of playing constantly masks longer-term risks, with increased injury risk, psychological stress and coping mechanisms such as using snus emerging. "Football still does not really appreciate the recovery needed physically and psychologically," he said. "True recovery is about stepping away from our professional responsibility. Feeling good in the moment does not mean it is good for them." He added that clubs must do more to educate players on the benefit of downtime.