Is there too much football these days?

Remember when we had summers without football and couldn't wait for the new season?

There was a time when the end of the club football season in the top leagues around Europe meant a break from the sport. Sure, friendlies and leagues were playing across the summer months in Scandinavia, Iceland, North America, East Asia, and South America, but for the most part, the major leagues stopped.

Not only did it give the players a much-need break, but it gave us, the fans, a vacation from football. I remember when the summer months were about which players your favourite team was about to sign or the launch of the new kit.

But all of those things seem second and third place compared to the amount of football being played. As soon as the UEFA Champions League final concluded, players were off to play for their national teams in various tournaments, including European Championship qualifiers, Nations League semifinals, CONCACAF Nations League matches, and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Once the Champions League ended this season, I tapped out for the first time ever. Sure, I have kept a steady stream of FIFA 23 going at home and have watched my son play matches throughout the summer at the U10/U11 grassroots level, but my interest in watching football has been very low.

Occasionally, I have watched some matches from Norway’s Eliteserien or Argentina’s Pro Liga, but that is mostly down to needing to get a quick football fix. When you are a football addict, well, you are a football addict.

There has been a day or two in which I missed the Premier League and watching matches. But for the most part, I’ve filled it with other things, like Walker, Texas Ranger marathons and reading books. I get paid to write about sports, with football being the main sport I write about.

But if I’m burnt out on the amount of football being played, then what about other people? What about the players? For now, I’m only writing about men’s football, as the women’s game doesn’t have quite as many matches per season. Although the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in July, it will only add to the chaos of the football calendar.

Some people will say, “Too much football? You’re having a laugh!” Okay, sure, when I was younger, I would have killed to watch this much football. Growing up in America, there was a time when ESPN would show just one MLS match a week. Sometimes, there wasn’t a game shown at all.

In the early 2000s, when I found Fox Soccer Channel, I would watch it 24/7. It didn’t matter how old the matches were or if I had seen them already, I just wanted to watch and consume football.

The problem with too much football (this is me shouting at clouds) is it desensitises fans. No one looks forward to the season starting, as their summer months are filled with matches from high-profile international tournaments.

In the summer of 2025, which is just two years away, FIFA will roll out the all-new Club World Cup. It will feature 32 teams competing in a tournament to crown the best team in the world. It will be played across June and July. So, the players from major European leagues competing in the competition will basically play a full 12-month season.

Some fans will argue that players are rich and famous, who cares, they get paid for it. This argument is mindless because the same could be said about any person who is employed. Players are being taken advantage of and injuries will surely mount. It is claimed soft tissue injuries will increase with more matches per season. With top players unable to play, this will rob the game of its stars more often.

FIFA wants a piece of the club football pie. The UEFA Champions League is the most popular club competition in the world other than the Premier League. FIFA sees how much money is involved with it, and the excitement from fans. This has fuelled the organisation’s desire to add a ridiculous expanded club tournament to the football calendar.

There is a belief that UEFA, which will also add more fixtures to the Champions League calendar from 2024 — four extra games will be added group/league phase — will ask the Premier League to reduce its number of teams.

There was a time when UEFA wanted all top European leagues to have 18 clubs. The Bundesliga is already an 18-team competition and from next season, France’s Ligue 1 will feature only 18 clubs. Ligue 1’s reasoning is that fewer teams will improve competition, which it very well could.

Serie A had only 16 teams for much of its existence. From 1967 to 1998, Serie A was a 16-team league. Perhaps this is why Serie A was so strong. In 1998, the league expanded to 18 clubs and in 2004, it added two more teams to create a 20-team competition.

The Premier League started with 24 clubs and a 46-game season. In 1995, the league was reduced to 20 teams. The Premier League’s website states the move was “to promote development and excellence at club and international level.”

There was a time just over 10 years ago when every Premier League pundit and podcaster was up in arms over the league’s idea of a 39th game. The idea was for each Premier League team to play a 39th game, with it occurring outside of England to grow the sport. High-profile friendlies and unnecessary tournaments replaced the idea of the 39th game.

It is funny how quickly things move in the world of football. But the proposal of a 39th game was met with anger by some. Fans were unhappy that an extra game would be played and even more unhappy over it taking place abroad. The planned Super League was the most recent issue that angered fans. It is debatable whether many fans even remember the 39th game, with the Super League and Saudi Arabia’s spending becoming major talking points.

One of the reasons the NFL is so popular in America — and with fans abroad — is because it keeps fans waiting. The NFL’s teams play just 17 games. Each team plays just once a week. Fans spend more time consuming content and tracking down the latest news than they watch their favourite team play.

The NFL season lasts around six months. It doesn’t wear people out. It doesn’t burn out fans. By the time the Super Bowl ends, fans are craving more. Hence the rise of recent spring leagues (although not nearly as popular). FIFA and UEFA are taking football down a slippery slope it won’t recover from. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, you can’t put it back in.

UEFA and FIFA are creating an atmosphere where there is always football being played. The fans, the players, the coaches, and everybody associated with the sport cannot recharge. Why? Of course, it is due to money. Will it stop or change? It could, but it would need clubs to stand up to one or both organisations. Unfortunately, the clubs are happy to see more money flow into the sport.