- Manchester City is set to make significant strides on various fronts in the upcoming season
- The players are armed with their schedules and preparing for an intense period of continuous competition
- Ruben Dias recently shared a glimpse of City’s fixtures on social media, complete with a sweating emoji
Ruben Dias, a defender for Manchester City, has revealed the club’s demanding schedule for the forthcoming season, with games coming in rapid succession despite ongoing concerns about player burnout and potential strikes.
Last season, the center-back made 45 appearances for City and an additional seven for Portugal, and he is likely to face a similarly heavy workload in the upcoming months, as Pep Guardiola’s team is anticipated to compete vigorously across multiple tournaments once more.
FIFA has been warned that players might take actions into their own hands to mitigate the congested schedule, but the upcoming season is poised to push many players to their limits, with their workloads remaining comparable to those of recent years.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Dias offered fans a look at City’s challenging calendar by posting a screenshot of their packed schedule with the caption ‘POV: You play for City’ along with a sweating emoji.
Starting with the Community Shield against Manchester United this weekend at Wembley, City is set to dive straight into a whirlwind of action for the next nine months.
Ruben Dias has lifted the lid on Manchester City’s relentless schedule for next season
Dias shared a screenshot of City’s diary with matches in various competitions colour coded
The calendar is colour-coded, with green indicating Premier League matchweeks, purple for Champions League match days, and flags for Carabao Cup and FA Cup games. International breaks are also highlighted.
Additionally, the expanded Club World Cup will take place next June.
Guardiola has been vocal about the necessity for changes in workload management, expressing that the short gap between the end of one season and the start of the next can be damaging.
‘I am against the lack of time for recovery from one year to the next,’ he stated.
‘I regularly voice my concerns about this. Playing every three, six, or seven days is manageable.
‘However, it’s incredibly challenging to finish a season and then, just three weeks later, start over and travel to Asia or the States for financial reasons. It’s really tough for all of us, especially the players. I believe we need to see changes.’
Pep Guardiola has been outspoken on the need to reduce players’ growing workloads
City’s squad are likely to be stretched once again as they prepare to fight on multiple fronts
The players’ union, FIFPRO, has suggested that strike action could become a possibility if FIFA does not address the escalating demands of a relentless schedule.
FIFPRO’s Europe president, David Terrier, warned of an ’emergency’ regarding mental and physical fatigue and called for a limit on the number of games played.
A review conducted by FIFPRO regarding player workload and recovery revealed alarming insights. Among the findings, it was noted that over half of the surveyed players reported being forced to take the field while injured.
Moreover, 82 percent of managers admitted they had fielded players they knew needed a rest.
In the previous season, numerous coaches, including Jurgen Klopp and Erik ten Hag, expressed their frustration over their players’ schedules, attributing a series of injuries to burnout.
