FIFA establishes a health care unit for players

The approval of the welfare group was part of negotiations around the international schedule at the FIFA Council meeting in Kigali, Rwanda on March 14. The initiative received the support of all federations during the consultation process.

The welfare group is responsible for proposing strategic measures related to the protection of player health. The initial proposed measures included: Mandatory annual rest period for players; the minimum interval between two matches is 72 hours, if possible; a mandatory day off per week and will be practically supervised; All players must respect health protection measures.

The welfare team is also tasked with a multi-sectoral assessment of how practical, proportionate and equitable safeguards can be implemented in the global football structure. The group will include representatives of stakeholders, including the professional players' association FIFPRO, medical and technical experts.

Today's top players can play more than 50 club matches each season. If entering the final of the remaining two Cup tournaments, the FA Cup and Europa League, Man Utd will play a total of 55 matches in the 2022-2023 season. This figure does not include a number of matches that may have to be replayed in the FA Cup.

Besides the club matches, the player has at least four times to return to play for the team in September, November, March and summer every year. Having too many games makes some players overloaded and prone to injury. In this season's Champions League group stage, Barca had to pay a heavy price due to a number of injuries when returning to the team. With the position behind Bayern and Inter, the Camp Nou team must go down to play in the Europa League play-off round.