Fears rise over player burnout for Women’s Euros
Early national team call-ups ahead of the Women’s European Championship are raising fears of player burnout, with clubs expressing their “huge concern” at their players’ shortened off-season breaks.
The official Fifa international window for the women’s game does not open until June 20 ahead of the Euros opener on July 6, but a large majority of teams are starting their training camps at least 10 days earlier, while some are already in camp.
Sources at 12 of the biggest women’s teams in Europe are infuriated, with two club board members saying there was “outrage” at the lack of recovery time since the club season finale, which in some countries came as recently as last Wednesday.
England and Italy’s squads were among the first to meet up for the summer, arriving at their camps on May 30, three weeks ahead of the point at which clubs are obliged to release players, and more than two months before the Wembley final.
The Lionesses are being given weekends off for rest, while in Italy’s case, none of their Juventus or Roma players who played in the Coppa Italia final on May 22 will take part until this week.
Belgium’s preparations began the earliest, on May 18, although it is understood their camp is not continuous. Four nations are playing a friendly prior to the international window opening – Austria host Denmark on Sunday, while England welcome Belgium on June 16.
Clubs’ concerns are exacerbated by the condensed nature of the preseason window for players after July 31’s Euros final. Women’s Champions League qualifiers are scheduled for Aug 18 and most domestic leagues resume by mid-september. Bayern Munich sporting director Bianca Rech said: “Players are getting burnt out. No time to ‘breathe’ will cause much more injuries.
“We need to have an open discussion about when players are going to be released. It has to be a set rule in place and needs to be followed in the same manner by everyone.”
While technically, clubs do not have to release their players to their national teams before June 20, Rech said no team would want to hinder their players’ chances of selection.
“We could say no, but the problem is, the players are always caught in the middle,” she said. “If we say ‘no, we’re not releasing our players’, we are the bad guys. Players are scared of not getting picked. A precamp that starts more than four weeks before the actual tournament should not be acceptable.”
Multiple sources have also raised concerns as to whether every player will be fully insured to train with their national team outside the official international window. In fully professional nations such as England and Germany, this is said not to be an issue, but among some smaller nations, the insurance situation is unclear. During the international window itself, protection is provided for clubs through Fifa’s club protection programme.
Uefa said it was aware of the issues, but referred the matter to Fifa. The European Club Association said that early call-ups “contravene the fundamental principles for the protection of players”.
Sources at the English Football Association highlighted that the Lionesses were being given weekends off this month, and pointed out that all English clubs had consented to the release of their players for the May 30 camp.
Of the 16 countries involved at the Euros, only Iceland and Finland are known to be waiting until June 20 to start their training camps.