There is too much play. This is the alarm that many people in the world of football are raising, starting with the players. And this is the conclusion reached by the latest Player Workload Monitoring 2023-2024 (PWM Report) report signed by FIFPROthe world’s professional footballers’ union.
Among the elements indicated to clarify that the amount of play has now reached unsustainable levels, the amount of games faced by some players. Below are some data.
The 10 most used players in 2023/2024
1. Julian Alvarez (Manchester City/Argentina) 83 call-ups, 75 games played. 5,364 minutes played
2. Phil Foden (Manchester City/England) 77 call-ups, 72 games played. 6,170 minutes played
3. Luis Diaz (Liverpool/Colombia) 77 call-ups, 72 matches played. 5,648 minutes played
4. Rui Patricio (Roma/Portugal) 74 call-ups, 30 matches played. 2.0703 minutes played
5. Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool/Holland) 74 call-ups, 69 matches played. 6,293 minutes played
6. Nikola Milenkovic (Fiorentina/Serbia) 74 call-ups, 66 matches played. 5,670
7. Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa/England) 83 call-ups, 66 games played. 5,496 minutes played
8. Antonio Silva (Benfica/Portugal) 74 call-ups, 64 matches played. 5,657 minutes played
9. Ruben Dias (Manchester City/Portugal) 74 call-ups, 60 games played. 5,584 minutes played
10. Darwin Nunez (Liverpool/Uruguay) 73 call-ups, 72 matches played. 4,694 minutes played
More minutes? New Roma player Saudi Abdulhamid behind Oblak. Just outside the top ten for the number of matches he has taken part in – 73 call-ups and 68 matches played – here is the Saudi full-back, who arrived at Rome in the transfer market session just ended. Which however recovers with the number of minutes played: 6,371 between Al-Hilal and Saudi Arabia. Among the very few to surpass him, Jan Oblakgoalkeeper for Atlético Madrid and Slovakia: 6,851 minutes on the pitch last season considering all commitments.