The International Break Is Wrecking Premier League Clubs, and Nobody at FIFA Is Listening

The break is only halfway through, and Premier League clubs are already counting the cost. Cody Gakpo (Liverpool) went off after 17 minutes of the Netherlands' 2-1 win over Serbia on Sunday, holding his ankle after a heavy challenge from Sasa Lukic, and he is due a scan today. Netherlands manager Xavi Hernández says he doesn't think it is serious, though nobody at Anfield will relax until the result is in.

Gakpo joins a list that grows daily. Alexander Isak (Liverpool) was sent home from Sweden with a thigh problem, and Brian Brobbey and Dan Ballard (both Sunderland) suffered hamstring injuries within 24 hours of each other. Call it bad luck if you like, but a calendar that keeps stacking fixtures on top of each other is the likelier culprit.

Three Weeks…Four Games Each

Somebody in a boardroom looked at a calendar that was already groaning and decided the fix was more football. The traditional October break has been scrapped and folded into this one, which means a three-week gap running to 6 October, with every country playing four matches instead of two. The Premier League clubs that pay the wages don't get their players back until the weekend of Saturday 10 October.

England's schedule shows how little thought went into it. They face Spain, Czechia, Croatia and then Czechia again, four games in 11 days, with two of them against the same opponent a week apart.

Tuchel had five players withdraw from his squad before a ball was kicked, and the rest were sent out on a schedule that asks a lot of bodies already carrying a club season's minutes. The clubs will pick up the bill for whatever goes wrong, and nobody who drew up the calendar will be asked to explain it.

Liverpool and Sunderland Are Already Sweating Buckets

Isak has four goals in five league games, second only to Erling Haaland (Manchester City), and Liverpool are unbeaten. Yet Hugo Ekitike (Liverpool) is already out, and Lewis Koumas is the only fit natural centre forward on current reports. Gakpo has two goals and four assists in six appearances, and Manchester City visit Anfield on 11 October, the first of eight games in 25 days.

Sunderland's problems are worse. Brobbey scored a hat-trick in the 5-3 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday, then went off after 35 minutes in Amsterdam four days later. Ballard, who, like Brobbey, has started every league game this season, pulled up in stoppage time for Northern Ireland in Georgia and is out of their next three matches.

Romaine Mundle (meniscus, out until the new year) and Habib Diarra (hamstring, six to eight weeks) were already missing. Sunderland host Brighton on their return, with the severity of both hamstring problems still unconfirmed.

The Damage Reaches Far Beyond Two Clubs

Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) is out for at least two weeks with a knee injury. He scored the winner against Turkey in Zinedine Zidane's first game in charge of France, then limped off five minutes later. Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) suffered a muscle injury in the warm-up before Germany met the Netherlands, and Kai Havertz (Arsenal) was caught by Quinten Timber in the same game and left with a suspected muscle strain. Arsenal hasn't confirmed reports that Havertz will miss four weeks.

Patrick Dorgu (Manchester United) limped off with an apparent hamstring problem after 30 minutes for Denmark against Wales. Jamie Gittens (Chelsea) left an England Under-21 game on crutches after a kick to the ankle, and Mike Penders (Chelsea) has a thigh problem picked up in training with Belgium. Charalampos Kostoulas (Brighton) needed stitches after a leg injury for Greece against Serbia.

Not Every Knock Is the Break's Fault, but Almost the Majority Are

It should go without saying that some players didn't arrive fit. Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United) brought a problem from Old Trafford and played through it for Portugal against Wales, according to manager Jorge Jesus, before being left out against Norway. Five England players withdrew before the Spain game: Declan Rice (Arsenal), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford (both Manchester United), and Tino Livramento (Newcastle).

That is a fair caveat, and it strengthens the case. Players reach the window already carrying a club season's worth of minutes, and the international schedule adds travel, camps and matches in place of rest.

FIFA's Compensation Cheque Won't Score a Single Goal

FIFA's Club Protection Programme only pays out once a player has been unavailable for more than 28 days, and it is based on his fixed salary alone, with bonuses excluded. The cap is €20,548 a day and €7.5m per player per injury, with €80m available across the whole programme each year. A hamstring problem that costs a player three weeks earns his club nothing.

Barcelona are reportedly in line for roughly €1.95m for Frenkie de Jong's four months out. That money doesn't play in midfield. It won't replace Brobbey's goals for Sunderland or Gakpo's movement for Liverpool either.

Friendlies With a Trophy: The Nations League Has Failed Its Own Brief

UEFA launched the competition in 2018 to replace most friendlies with games that carried promotion, relegation and opponents of similar strength. Eight years on, it has stretched windows to three weeks and four fixtures. Clubs lose their players for longer, and the football rarely justifies the wear and tear.

FIFPRO's workload report for 2023/24 found that 54 per cent of the 1,500 players it tracked faced excessive or high demands, and 31 per cent were in matchday squads for more than 55 games. Among players with excessive workloads, 30 per cent of matches came from continental club competitions or international football. The warnings have been public for two years, and the calendar has only grown.

Give Players a Calendar That Doesn't Break Them

Nobody is asking footballers to choose their club over their country. They should represent their nations, and most do it with real pride. Keep the qualifiers and the major tournaments, scrap the Nations League as a standalone competition, and give clubs a fixed recovery window before domestic football resumes.

FIFA should also pay clubs from the first day of an injury, not the 29th. Until the calendar shrinks or the compensation rises, clubs will keep paying wages and absorbing the sporting loss from matches they had no say in scheduling.

The Next Hamstring Is Already on Its Way

Gakpo's scan, Isak's assessment, Havertz's diagnosis and the Sunderland pair's results are all still to come. Some players will be back quickly and some won't, and the break has more than a week left.

Football's answer so far has been to schedule more. Until someone with authority treats these injuries as a cost of the calendar rather than bad luck, the same scenes will repeat every window. Clubs will keep counting the damage while the governing bodies count the revenue.

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