'Uefa care about money not players' - Thibby Courtois

Vidyoyo

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Strong words from Thibault Courtois last night(?) about UEFA, suggesting they only care about money and not players...

Main quotes:

"This just shows that we play too many games," Courtois continued. "Next year we have a World Cup in November, we maybe have to play until the latter stages of June again. We will get injured and nobody cares about the players anymore.

"After a long season we will have to play four games in the Nations League again, we will have two weeks' holiday and that's not enough for players to be able to continue playing 12 months at the highest level.

"If we never say anything it will always be the same. They (Uefa) can be angry about other teams making a Super League but they don't care about the players, they just care about their pockets."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58870597

Thoughts?
 
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HTG

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He‘s completely right and I think the quality of the game is suffering massively from far too many games being played.
 

Mb194dc

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Not just UEFA, all football is about these days is money. It's all setup to extract the most TV revenue and everything else is a distant second to that goal.
 

FrankDrebin

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Everyone involved in top flight football only care about money. So, meh.
 

JJ12

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Football is being milked from all angles
 

Anustart89

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It’s obviously true but it’s refreshing to hear it from someone inside the game. If they cared about the game they’d put a stop to nurseries refumes* using their name to improve their global image, but they’re not doing anything about that since it pumps money into the game and their pockets. The outrage over the ESL is even further proven to be outrage over potentially being cut off from the profits rather than anything else.

* murderous regimes, autocorrect being dumb.
 

macheda14

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He‘s completely right and I think the quality of the game is suffering massively from far too many games being played.
I'm not entirely sure about that. The standard of the premier league this season has been great, the CL too. The Euros had a lot of fantastic games. However I do agree that it isn't good for player safety.
 

Samid

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Players at the highest level should be the last ones to complain about others caring about money.

Ask the players if they're willing to take the paycuts to reflect the fewer amount of games they're asking for and there will be a resounding no.
 

JPRouve

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Players at the highest level should be the last ones to complain about others caring about money.

Ask the players if they're willing to take the paycuts to reflect the fewer amount of games they're asking for and there will be a resounding no.
Yeah, he can share more games with Lunin.
 

yumtum

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Millionaire complaining about working hard playing football.

I know I should probably feel some empathy towards him, but seeing as I (and many others) work a backbreaking job with 28 days off a year making a tenth of his weekly wage a year it gets difficult to empathise.

Isn't it like 0.012% of footballers make it? Surely he should be thanking whatever gave him the talent to be able to play football for a living rather than complaining about having to play football for a living?
 

duffer

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3rd place play off for a tin pot trophy like the nation's league is pretty ridiculous.

It's even dumb in a world cup.

I'm surprised they've not put one in the Champions League.
 

Mike Smalling

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Hope more top players speak out. A lot has gone wrong already, but the Super League was stopped, and I really hope they are able to stop stuff like World Cup's every other year as well. That would be another nail in the coffin for football to me (although if I'm being honest with myself, a lot more nails would be needed, before I stop caring).
 

Real Name

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3rd place play off for a tin pot trophy like the nation's league is pretty ridiculous.

It's even dumb in a world cup.

I'm surprised they've not put one in the Champions League.
Dont put ideas into their heads. :wenger:
 

JPRouve

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Hope more top players speak out. A lot has gone wrong already, but the Super League was stopped, and I really hope they are able to stop stuff like World Cup's every other year as well. That would be another nail in the coffin for football to me (although if I'm being honest with myself, a lot more nails would be needed, before I stop caring).
They speak out and then what? The reality is that there are enough players around to play the current amount of games while resting everyone, the issue is that top players don't really want that, they want to have their cake and eat it.
 

FootballHQ

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This is the issue with nations league for me.

Yes end of tournament is exciting as with format you get four of the best teams (which dosen't always happen in euros with the draw). However it was sold as way to end meaningless games and friendlies at international level. Yet we still get plenty of those on top as we saw at weekend.

If UEFA had bottle they'd just make nations league the actual qualifying for the tournament but of course they won't as then with groups like Spain-Germany-France as we had a while back you run risk of potentially two not making the tournament.

Only going to get worse aswell when you think even with no Super league there's going to be more games in the champions league and you also have 48 team world cup from 2026. Also pushing for world club cup to seriously start in alternate summer aswell.

Top players if they stay fit have been asked to do 70 game seasons for pretty much last decade, going to be 80 games soon which is way too much.
 

Vidyoyo

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Millionaire complaining about working hard playing football.

I know I should probably feel some empathy towards him, but seeing as I (and many others) work a backbreaking job with 28 days off a year making a tenth of his weekly wage a year it gets difficult to empathise.

Isn't it like 0.012% of footballers make it? Surely he should be thanking whatever gave him the talent to be able to play football for a living rather than complaining about having to play football for a living?
True point but as it's about international football I think it has some merit. They'll be making a lot of money from their clubs and relatively little involvement in international games but they're pressured to play more often now with the Nations League.

I don't think many players are that bothered about playing twice a week, but when it comes to international football it all seems like it's gotten a little indulgent for the sake of it. UEFA has only invented this crappy Nations League because they saw too many teams playing second string squads for friendlies. It was a very cynical exercise that I feel players are right to question, especially in light of the ridiculous nature of international football generally over the past two years.

There's also arguably a level of emotional blackmail at play because in theory players could refuse to play but they won't because they'd be seen as flakey and not committed to their country or some such bull locks.

Could international managers do more to protect the integrity of the sport? Yes but they're only paid to represent their nations so, again, there's pressure to conform and play their best teams.
 
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Lee565

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People will complain about millionaire footballers complaining about needing rest but as he stated, the quality of the game is suffering for it and all high performance athletes need some type of rest to properly recuperate, to laugh off the idea the top performing athletes is ridiculous when the evidence is there in all sports of the amount of long term injuries that athletes suffer from and on many occasions shorten their already short careers.
 

FrankDrebin

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Football is being milked from all angles
Ha, Yep. I'm so disillusioned with the 'beautiful game', though its been that way for atleast a few years now.

Heck, for the last few weeks I've completely forgotten when United were playing (so have the players by the current state of things).

I can quite comfortably walk away completely from football now. Something I thought I would never say. :lol:
 

Vidyoyo

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Ha, Yep. I'm so disillusioned with the 'beautiful game', though its been that way for atleast a few years now.

Heck, for the last few weeks I've completely forgotten when United were playing (so have the players by the current state of things).

I can quite comfortably walk away completely from football now. Something I thought I would never say. :lol:
I'll join you there. I haven't watched a single full game since Newcastle due to general busyness and not caring enough to plan my life around the constant football schedule.

Proper fan etc
 

Real Name

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He's right but..
It's similar to Norway or any country being dead against WC in Qatar. They've put few signs and that was that.
Until there's a mass of a players speaking about it not a thing will change.

Or similar parallel. Croatian legend Zvonimir Boban dont want to come to work in Croatia cause its corrupted and all in all a swamp. But he didnt have a problem with working at Fifa and now Uefa who are corrupt organizations as they come.
 

big rons sovereign

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Millionaire complaining about working hard playing football.

I know I should probably feel some empathy towards him, but seeing as I (and many others) work a backbreaking job with 28 days off a year making a tenth of his weekly wage a year it gets difficult to empathise.

Isn't it like 0.012% of footballers make it? Surely he should be thanking whatever gave him the talent to be able to play football for a living rather than complaining about having to play football for a living?
Pretty much this. Poor footballer has to run around a bit then get in his 100k luxury car and drive back to his mansion or penthouse.
But he's a goalkeeper, he doesn't even have to run around all that much.
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
 

matt23

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So he's mentioned the world cup in Qatar while moaning about the working conditions international footballers have to put up with..

I love footballers
 

JPRouve

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People will complain about millionaire footballers complaining about needing rest but as he stated, the quality of the game is suffering for it and all high performance athletes need some type of rest to properly recuperate, to laugh off the idea the top performing athletes is ridiculous when the evidence is there in all sports of the amount of long term injuries that athletes suffer from and on many occasions shorten their already short careers.
This point only really applies to top teams, the ones that go far in most competitions. Now the issue is that these are the same teams that generally have two starting eleven that are better than most teams but barely use their depth. International players in top teams do not have to play all games for their clubs, they could easily have weeks off.
In Rugby it's not rare for domestic competitions to continue during international competitions, clubs simply play their depth players and prospects. And the pool of players is much smaller than in Football. If we take Courtois as an example, he has played 720 minutes this season while Lunin has played 0, his fatigue can easily be managed.
 

Redlyn

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Millionaire complaining about working hard playing football.

I know I should probably feel some empathy towards him, but seeing as I (and many others) work a backbreaking job with 28 days off a year making a tenth of his weekly wage a year it gets difficult to empathise.

Isn't it like 0.012% of footballers make it? Surely he should be thanking whatever gave him the talent to be able to play football for a living rather than complaining about having to play football for a living?
Why don't we just get them to play every single day because money. Also who cares if they get injured because money.
 

Withnail

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He's damn right. The whole thing's getting ridiculous.

This Qatar WC was a corrupt fiasco from start to finish and now when the restrictions are being lifted and we should be having a normal season the players are getting it in the neck again.

This WC every two years proposal stinks as well. The players' best interests don't seem to have any bearing on these discussions.
 

Trequarista10

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Question I have is what can/should clubs and players do in this situation?

Sports science in football is huge and you'd assume someone would say, no, you need some rest.

Should players opt out of meaningless international games? Should clubs say OK were only going to play the reserves in the league cup? Should clubs give individual players a couple weeks off during the season on a rota based system so over the course of the season everyone gets a break?

Obviously UEFA only care about the money. So do the FA. So does the PL. So do the clubs. Do the players and first team staff have to manage themselves and say OK this is the situation we're in, how can we manage and maintain the physical and mental wellbeing of the players?
 

djembatheking

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Maybe he should retire from international football if he can`t cope with the demands , I`m sure there is another keeper out there that would love to play for his country in the next world cup.
 

Adisa

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He is right. Not just UEFA. You have to include FiFA, the FAs and the respective leagues. Bunch of cnuts.
 

11101

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I'm not entirely sure about that. The standard of the premier league this season has been great, the CL too. The Euros had a lot of fantastic games. However I do agree that it isn't good for player safety.
The level of competition has been good. I'd say the standard has dropped a bit in the last few years though.
 

Withnail

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Maybe he should retire from international football if he can`t cope with the demands , I`m sure there is another keeper out there that would love to play for his country in the next world cup.
So he should give up representing his country because they keep increasing the workload?

What kind of logic is this?
 

Adisa

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Players at the highest level should be the last ones to complain about others caring about money.

Ask the players if they're willing to take the paycuts to reflect the fewer amount of games they're asking for and there will be a resounding no.
How much are the players earning from international games? As far as I am aware, the number of club games has remained fairly constant for the past two decades.
Players are football's most important asset and should be protected as much as possible.
Always find the endless complaint about how much they earn tiresome.
 

djembatheking

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So he should give up representing his country because they keep increasing the workload?

What kind of logic is this?
Lots of other players do as they get older and you can be sure there are younger players that will jump at the chance to play the extra games.
 

Varun

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Never ceases to amaze me how any such comment from footballers is simply reduced to a "he shouldn't complain because well money" by some posters without fail.

Wonder if these same guys have ever moaned about their boss, extra assignment, having to work on a Sat etc.. when the exact statement made above would be applicable to them if the guy commenting is some homeless guy instead of a caf poster with a keyboard to post drivel.