Most players prefer summer World Cups, says players' union FIFPRO

FIFPRO published its

Review and Player Survey on Thursday. The report says that the World Cup should never again be played in winter, and the results confirmed their fears about players' mental and physical fatigue.

Sixty-four World Cup players were surveyed, and only 11% of players surveyed favoured the winter World Cup over the summer tournament.

In a video conference call on Tuesday, Fifpro general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said

international retirement due to the football schedule should make organisers nervous.  

"[Varane's] decision should really, really make competition organisers nervous, because it's ultimately those players who are on the field creating the game, they're creating the product that is being sold by everybody ... and they're the players the fans come to see," J

onas Baer-Hoffmann said.

"And if they're taking career choices of that drastic nature, based on their physical and their mental health, caused by the pressure that is on them, that is what we've been warning about.”

Teams had just seven days to prepare before the 2022 World Cup. Fifpro report said eighty-six percent of players want at least 14 days of preparation time, and sixty-one percent want a recovery period of between 14 and 28 days.

"If you want to pursue a winter World Cup again, you need [the leagues] to completely change their schedule and provide appropriate training and recovery time pre- and post-tournament,"

he said.

"[It is] unlikely that they will agree to that."

FIFPRO report also confirmed Premier League players played the most World Cup minutes, while Manchester City recorded the most minutes of any team. Barcelona also had the most players (17) at the tournament.

Lengthening stoppage time also had an impact on players in Qatar. They ran almost 1.6 extra kilometers during an average of 11.6 minutes of added time.

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