🗓 Social media reacts to alleged dig at players over fixture schedule

Yahoo

29-06-2025

In the midst of the debate about the increasingly extensive calendar in European football, especially after the criticisms of Raphinha and Jürgen Klopp, social media resonated with a statement attributed to the former CEO of Bayern Munich, Karl–Heinz Rummenigge.
In February of 2025, the former player – now a member of the board of the German giant – said he did not understand the complaints of players and coaches about excessive workload, due to the extensive calendar.
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"Our players should stop complaining! All contract negotiations I witness with us only go in one direction: higher and higher, further and further, faster and faster. But all this money has to come from somewhere," Rummenigge said in an interview with SPORT BILD.
"It's as if it's another wonder of the world that the DFL has managed to maintain its TV revenue status and even improve it by 2%. But the players and their agents are demanding more, so it's not just about 2%. The money will have to come from other competitions, like the new Club World Cup in the [European] summer. This is the trap that the players have set for themselves," Rummenigge stated.
The statement that widely circulated on social media, however, is slightly different, and was not found in any official media outlet – at least, not yet.
"I understand their frustration, but the players and their agents played a role in this. By constantly demanding higher salaries, they pressured the clubs to seek greater revenues. And where does this money come from? From more games."
The truth is that X saw people agreeing, with some users also defending the players.
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And you, which side do you stand on in this story?
How many games would be 'ideal'?
The debate about the calendar leads to a question: what does science say about a "limit" of games? In the sense, of course, of maintaining the health (physical and mental of athletes), so they can deliver a spectacle.
A 2023 report from FIFPro, the International Federation of Professional Football Players – an organization that represents more than 60,000 professional football players worldwide –, about 55% of elite players played more than 60 official matches per season (clubs, plus selections).
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And this number can indeed be considered high. According to FIFPro, in a study in conjunction with sports science experts, something around 45 to 50 games per year would be the healthy limit for performance and recovery.
In the interview given to SPORT BILD, Rummenigge suggested some ways to stop the escalation of costs in European football, which would be linked to the increase in the calendar.
"In Europe, we need an absolute cap on squad costs, like in the US professional leagues [for salaries, transfers, agent fees (editor's note)]. Or a cap on players' salaries," said the manager.
"In the end, a salary cap would probably be better for the internal work environment, even if only to contain the envy factor in the locker room. Because if one player receives an insane salary, you can only pay much less to all the others. Also, if a FC Bayern player earned 'only' 15 million euros per year instead of 20 million, I still think it's an insane amount of money," he concluded.
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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.
📸 FREDERIC J. BROWN - AFP or licensors