We are sleepwalking into a disaster – PFA chief worried about demands on players

Premier League matches are set to last comfortably longer than 100 minutes on average in the season ahead.

PFA chief executive Maheta Molango is concerned about the increasing demands on players (Khalid Bari Photography/PA) (PA Media)

Football is “sleepwalking into a disaster” by adding ever more demands on players and forcing them to make drastic decisions about their careers, Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango has said.

Premier League matches are set to last comfortably longer than 100 minutes on average in the season ahead after referees in competitions worldwide were instructed by the game’s lawmakers to more accurately measure time lost to stoppages.

The approach was first adopted at the World Cup in Qatar last year where it was largely positively received, but Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and Manchester United defender Raphael Varane have already highlighted the impact of such a move across a long domestic season.

Varane retired from international football at the age of 29 earlier this year, likening the demands of the top-level game to being in a washing machine, and said the new measure was “damaging” alongside an already-packed schedule of matches.

Molango believes other players will feel they have no option but to follow Varane’s lead, and fears matters will get even worse when European club competitions expand from 2024-25 and the 32-team FIFA Club World Cup kicks off at the end of the same campaign.

“What (Varane) is saying is, ‘this is not sustainable’. And it’s only the start of the problem because by next year, when we open the new cycle, it’s going to be absolutely crazy. We are sleepwalking into a disaster,” he said.

“It’s getting to a stage where it’s not about us telling them to take action. It is that they want to take it themselves. So what we’re saying to the authorities is that you’re bringing this to an extreme.

“It’s not going to be a question of the union saying, ‘do this or that’. It’s players themselves who are saying to us, ‘let’s do something’.

“It’s not sustainable, it’s not manageable and if you don’t do something we’re going to be in trouble.”

Figures released on Twitter by the EFL indicated that the average ball-in-play time for the weekend’s matches was 58 minutes, up from 50 last season, while added time signalled by the fourth official increased by 5.9 minutes on average.

Molango was asked whether he thought the length of matches would gradually return to normal as players became used to the new approach.

“We need to reflect on how we got to this point,” he said. “That’s why we said we need to have these discussions with the authorities.

“Until you see how certain changes play out, then it’s difficult to assess. I don’t think a measure that was applied for a tournament that lasts for a month can just be extrapolated immediately to an entire season.”

It's not sustainable, it's not manageable and if you don't do something we’re going to be in trouble

PFA chief executive Maheta Molango

Molango said a “significant number” of players had raised concerns over the change in approach on added time when taken together with the congested calendar, and added: “After this weekend’s Shield (I had players) contacting me within hours of the end of the game.

“And again, not about, ‘we’ve lost the game because of this’ and finding excuses. It was about the issue. That’s how smart they are. They’re seeing the bigger picture. They are saying, ‘if we, as two teams who love playing and don’t want interruption, don’t waste time, have eight minutes added at the end of the game, I don’t want to think what will happen to the teams that actually do waste time’.

“And if you add those minutes, then by Christmas you have played five more games on top of the 70 you already play.”