As football schedules extend over continents, the problem of fatigue and injuries becomes more and more prominent, so loading controls are not merely a tactic anymore but a survival tactic in the current intensive game. Football has never been a game of exemption and ordeal. Players undergo their massive training and intense games to their full capability to assist their teams. Since this season (2024-2025), however, the number of matches has grown.
Post more inclusion of the Club World Cup by FIFA where the most popular clubs of any country of any continent are participating and also in the past due to the concept of the new UEFA Champions League system, where before the tournament involved used to go in a group-wise format where the teams could be assured about the number of matches they will play in the group stage except knockouts and last due to the new concept of playoffs introduced to the teams.
It finished between the numbers 9 and 24 in the round robin table of the Champions League, due to which the teams have to play more games than before along with their national leagues of that particular country.
Importance of Workload Management
The workload management has also begun to play an important role in determining the success of a team as matches have also gone up. Today, the teams are required to enter the minimum of three tournaments in a season. The National League is like La Liga of Spain and the Premier League of England.
The National Cup event, like the Copa del Rey of Spain and FA Cup of England and the Continental tournament, like the UEFA Champions League or Europa league and the other tournaments like the Spanish Super Cup and Community Shield or Carabao Cup and now the debut of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the Club World Cup.
This has seen the players play more matches hence raising the chances of sustaining an injury since they will be playing more matches both with their clubs and with their respective national teams in the schedule to be playing in the international break in football. With this long program, teams and their officiating staff and management must keep in consideration the workload of the players to be able to schedule their training and resting time so that they can play at their best.
Consequences of Poor Workload Management
As the new system was introduced before the last season kicked off, the teams seemed not to be fully prepared for this type of hefty schedule which led to the less efficient management of workload of the players which brought a huge number of injuries for the teams which affected the teams in their respective campaigns.
Last season, teams like Real Madrid and Manchester City suffered due to injury throughout the season, which affected their trophy cabinet as well by missing out on key players. Real Madrid lost main players such as Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao throughout the entirety, and this could have affected their season, making them miss out on La Liga by finishing 2nd on the table with 84 points, which was 4 points behind the winners.
FC Barcelona, who won La Liga with 88 points, exited the UEFA Champions League at the quarterfinal stage, losing to Arsenal 5-1 on aggregate of the 2 legs of the tie, and ended in 2nd place in the Copa Del Rey tie losing 3-2 to FC Barcelona in the final.
However, Manchester City’s campaign struggled rigorously due to the injuries of players like Rodri, Savinho, and Akanji. The record straight 4 times Premier League champions and the 2023 UEFA Champions League champions finished 3rd in the Premier League table finishing 13 points behind the league leaders, Liverpool with 71 points and they also crashed out of the Champions League playoff against Real Madrid 6-3 on aggregate.
Not only these two teams, but teams like Barcelona have suffered due to the injury which led to their crashing out from the Champions League semi-final when they lost both of their important fullbacks—Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde—who played a crucial role in their success for the rest of the season and helped them to clinch the La Liga title and Copa del Rey title and add the Spanish Super Cup title and well to their cabinet.
Teams’ preparation to address and manage the issue ahead of the New Season
The teams are strengthening their teams by investigating the format of the football season. They are bringing in new tailored training regimes and reinforcement sessions to an entire squad as well as to the injury-prone members of the team like Dani Olmo or the ones playing in risky ways like Lamine Yamal, in the case of asking them a query about reducing the chances of getting an injury.
The coaches are taking care of the rest of the team and because of that clubs are getting compelled to sign-up players not only in key positions of a team but also in backup positions which will improve the quality and depth of the entire squad and the best example of doing so in haste is illustrated at The coaches and physios are putting in place diet plans and strength training among the players and collecting statistics of every player on the team.
Conclusion
As the days are passing by, the beautiful sport of football is bringing itself into a newer, better and tougher form. Although it is nothing short of a treat to the viewers all across the world, due to this increase in number of high intensity games, players are getting less rest, which may cause injury which can be career-threatening to them.
We have seen many players getting their careers drowned by a massive injury and to prevent these things, the management of the players and their workload becomes very important, not only for the team but also for football itself.
Baishali Karmakar 
Vibhor Gautam
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