The global footballers’ union Fifpro wants concrete safeguards to protect players from fixture overload and the consequent risk of injury as the sport catches up with a backlog of matches following the novel coronavirus stoppage. Fifpro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann told Reuters that, with the sport facing an overcrowded calendar for the next three years, the union was talking to European clubs and leagues to find ways of protecting players. “There is the big question of how we manage the load in a very condensed period,” he said. One idea proposed would be a so-called match cap to limit the number of games for players in a season, but not clubs. Similarly, Fifpro is worried about leagues starting in countries where infection rates are still high.

Source: The Star July 20, 2020 14:03 UTC