world soccer sensation and eight times world Best Player, Lionel Messi, inspired Argentina to their third soccer World Cup victory in Qatar last year, other serious world soccer playing countrues were left nursing battle wounds worth hundreds of millions of dollars largely as a result of the grueling tournament which led to losses in revenue for top clubs across the globe as the players were also left with large scale knocks suffered from injuries.
The FIFA World Cup was held in November and December 2022, in the middle of Europe’s busy soccer season. Nearly three-quarters of players who featured at the World Cup last year came from leagues in the continent, according to analysis by Al Jazeera.
Unsurprisingly then, new research finds the tournament placed a particularly heavy burden on those European clubs.
A report published by London-based insurance group Howden shows player injuries cost the teams in Europe’s five biggest leagues €704.9 million ($767 million) last season, a staggering 27 per cent rise in injury costs from the year before.
Teams from England’s Premier League suffered the biggest losses. The league endured a total of 49 injuries by players who participated in the international tournament in the two months after the World Cup was hosted, amounting to a $282 million hit. Germany’s Bundesliga was close behind with 46 injuries, though the numbers were far lower for clubs in Spain, Italy, and France.
The average time out for players who participated in the tournament was eight days longer in January 2023 than it was before the tournament, in October 2022, according to the report. Knee injuries, at €540,000 ($590,000) per occurrence, proved the most costly last season.
Footballing powerhouses, Real Madrid and Manchester United, were left licking their wounds more than most last year, as the sides endured a combined 141 injuries over the 2022/23 season.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup was the first time the tournament was played in winter, forgoing its traditional June and July time slot that coincides with European football clubs taking their off-season break.
The tournament was controversially moved to the winter to accommodate the scorching temperatures during Qatar’s summer, which can reach up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Players also unusually took water breaks during matches to lessen the chances of fatigue.
However, this led to a huge level of fixture congestion as European teams tried to squeeze their seasons around the month-long tournament. Players who participated in the competition saw the number of games they played last season soar.
Manchester United and Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes played 6,666 minutes of football in the year between September 2022 and 2023, more than any other player, according to the football players’ union Fifpro. Portugal reached the World Cup quarter-finals, while Manchester United went deep into several tournaments last season.
“The data is clear in demonstrating a trend, and we hope our research and analysis will provide Europe’s top clubs with additional insight as they continue to talk to the game’s governing bodies about an improved alignment of the domestic and international calendars and the broad issue of fixture congestion,” said James Burrows, Howden’s head of sport.
The heightened risk of injuries from the schedule shift was widely foreseen among the game’s leading figures. A week before kick-off in Qatar, Fifpro warned fatigue would limit the playtime of the sport’s biggest stars.
“We might still see an incredible World Cup because players are leaving it all out there and we might see some countries playing miraculous football, but the bigger picture increases the probability of injury and increases the probability of fatigue-limiting performance. That is what the science says.” Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, Fifpro’s general secretary.
