How will the World Cup schedule affect other tournaments?
The 2022 World Cup is the most special World Cup ever, a World Cup held in winter is unprecedented in history. This caused a disturbance and conflict with national championships around the world, especially in Europe, where 5 national championships are considered the most attractive on the planet.
Worries from tournaments
Needless to say, the Premier League is certainly the most affected tournament, because it is simply the number 1 tournament of the foggy country that gathers the most stars of world football. Any top English team will suffer heavy losses in terms of force when letting their players play against national teams. The top stars of the teams who are also irreplaceable pillars in their national team can be mentioned as Kevin Debruyne of Belgium, Bruno Fernandes of Portugal, Son Heung Min of South Korea, or Harry Kane of England. The winter period in England when the Premier League has gone 1/3 of the way in previous years has always been a pivotal period for teams to accelerate and accumulate points, but now with the Premier League having to interrupt and make way for the World Cup, the teams will face sthree problems. Firstly, it is the fact that clubs can lose their current rhythm and form, secondly, it is the fear of injury for key players when they will have to strain to compete in a harsh tournament with a dense competition like the World Cup, and thirdly, if there is no injury, another concern will arise, which is the ability to recover physically when returning to their clubs. It should be remembered that the second leg in the European national championships will be the time when the clubs need to speed up and if the key players do not recover in time and fitness, it will be a problem. The great danger that clubs face, especially in the Premier League, is a tournament where the level of the teams is not too disparate and surprises can always happen in any match if the better-rated team cannot play at its best.
That is the prime example of the English Premier League and the same will come in the other four major European championships, namely Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. We all know Real Madrid and Barcelona are two teams that always contribute a lot of players to the national teams, so these are the two teams that experience the biggest losses in terms of force. Barcelona has always been the team that contributed the most players to the Spanish national team and right now coach Xavi is very worried because his team is struggling in the European Cup arena and Laliga, he must also take on the task of leading his team through the big enemy Real Madrid after his team has been left behind over the years. Real Madrid does not contribute too many players to the Spain team, but almost every individual in the royal team’s squad is the No. 1 star in different teams. These include Luka Modric of Croatia, Karim Benzema of France, and Vinicius of Brazil. Spain will also be greatly affected when players go to the Middle East, specifically Qatar to compete in the World Cup because in Spain, matches always take place late at night and in cool air conditions. In Qatar, the time and competition conditions are opposite. It can create disturbances in the biological clocks of the players. The problems that international tournaments face are common difficulties and all will be forced to accept a strange World Cup like this.
How to adapt to the World Cup in winter
It can be said that, even if they don’t want to, surely the executives of European football leagues can’t do anything but compromise with FIFA and try to find a solution to reconcile the difficulties. In recent times, the Premier League as well as other national championships are trying to arrange for the rounds to take place with a denser density to be able to sprint for the start of the World Cup period. The players are also advised to maintain and ensure their fitness when playing with a dense frequency. Man City coach Pep Guardiola shared in front of the press also expressed concern that his players might be focusing on the World Cup and distracting from the club’s duties for a while next month. And he also revealed the secret to the players, if you want to stay in shape and avoid injuries, it is best to always focus on each game in front of you, maintain a professional attitude, work hard and give your best in every match, every training session instead of letting your mind focus on further goals. When asked about this issue, striker Martines of Inter Milan also shared the same opinion with the Man City coach, he said that the World Cup is a sacred tournament for all players, but the players also need to make sure to maintain the same form and living habits as when you were at the clubs so that you can maintain the best physical foundation when returning from the World Cup to be able to adapt quickly to the intensity at the clubs.
For the organizers, a reasonable time allocation will be a prerequisite for the tournament to survive in a season where the organizing time “is stolen” by the World Cup. However, in the end, the fact that the World Cup is held in the winter is not such a bad thing when the summer in Qatar is too harsh, which can even burn the players’ energy and make them have trouble preparing for the new season. A winter break will also be a good opportunity for clubs to have more time to build up their squads and perfect their play.
All in all, the leagues will have to accept and learn to adapt to a month when club football is paused to make way for the playing field of the national teams, and also expect that, when the players come back, they can still bring the most exciting matches.