Professional soccer has undergone quick and extreme changes in recent years. With the advent of new tournaments and their prolonged formats, the number of matches played within a season has reached an all-time peak. Just as players like Rodri of Manchester City, Luka Modric of Real Madrid, and Liverpool's Alisson are among those who have given voice to concern about the impact of the overload and even strikes, Germany's Joshua Kimmich has taken a course opposite to that altogether.
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For Kimmich, more games are not the problem; they present an opportunity. His opinion goes against the tide of players and coaches-a fact that opens debates around the physical and emotional limits that reach to the athletes through sport.
Kimmich opinion
The captain of the German national team and one of Bayern Munich's key players, Joshua Kimmich, had at least said his colleagues are ill at ease with their statements. Though many players discuss the physical and mental exhaustion because of the growth of games, according to Kimmich, this is not an overload villain.
In his words: "Maybe I'm a bit unpopular for saying this, but I'm one of those who always wants to play, who enjoys lots of games." To him, the only alternative to the thrill of competition is physical toll. He even went as far as to confess that he is a fan of weeks with more games in stores because, to him, it is way more fun competing constantly than being at a slower pace.
This opinion is not only brave, but also absolutely contrary to today's concerns of athletes who are afraid of physical exhaustion and injury. Whereas Kimmich acknowledges there is some link between too many games and muscle injuries, he also underlines that not all cases can be pinpointed on this kind of overload. Sometimes accidents do occur, and playing fewer games will not help. "Teams are also getting bigger. More substitutions can be made," he added.
Other side of the story: Rodri and other players' reality
While Kimmich feels more comfortable with the number of games, most players and coaches do not agree. Rodri, prior to his serious injury, once mentioned that if the number of matches is not controlled, a strike may be needed. Even Kimmich's coach in Bayern, Pep Guardiola, doesn't think this way. For Guardiola, the problem isn't financial-it's about health. He mentions that, according to experts in medicine, the human body needs four to five days of rest after a game and that nowadays players have only two rest days.
But this difference in opinion between Kimmich and his colleagues is not a question of perspective; it reflects the different realities within soccer. Kimmich, at the apex of his physical condition and urged by his love for the game, finds comfortable the current volume of competitions, whereas other players, burdened by the schedule that has been building up over time, are starting to show the effects of a nonstop season.
The other coaches, not excluding Carlo Ancelotti, have joined in the chorus of complaints against the calendar, which, for many, this push for more competitions and formats is putting the health of the players at risk. Certainly, as tournaments like the new Champions League format and Club World Cup expansion continue to take shape, it would be wilfully blind not to see that this burden on the players will only continue to grow.