Footballers play an increasing number of matches every season. Some teams are involved in two or even three competitions at the same time, leaving players with inadequate recovery time between matches. There is much information about how long it takes to replenish glycogen, the primary energy fuel for muscles during intense physical exertion, such as match play. Players’ glycogen levels can return to normal pre-match levels within 36 hours if they follow a proper dietary regimen, take the proper supplements, and get adequate rest. But glycogen replenishment is only one piece of the puzzle. Multiple physiological mechanisms play a vital role in a full recovery, and some of these parameters may actually take a week or longer to be normalized, depending on the load of physical exertion. For example, following exhaustive exercise, the immune system is depressed and several neurological mechanisms suffer changes. These changes are not fully understood, but they take time to be fully restored. Also, following back-to-back competitive matches, players may experience debilitating effects for several days—or even up to a week—including muscle tears and severe soreness.
Dr. Tobias Moskowitz, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and author of the bestselling book Scorecasting, warned about the economic imperatives that are pushing players to their limits.
“The economic incentive is there for more games and the hefty schedule that is in place. The fans want to go to and see as many games as possible, generating more revenues from ticket sales. You also have higher TV revenues from more advertisements. All of that adds up, and the players don’t get paid per game,” Dr. Moskowitz said. For the owners of the teams and the league bosses who control the game, it really does not matter if the players play too many games. “It may be that the league and players have to be willing to accept fewer financial rewards in order to obtain a more humane calendar,” Dr. Moskowitz said.
In the first phase of Euro 2012, participants played an average of three matches in less than ten days. Dr. John Ivy, a world renowned exercise physiologist at the University of Texas, said he highly doubted that a player would have been able to have a full recovery when that many matches were scheduled in such a short period of time. The organizers surely did not have the physiological interests of the players at heart. Exhausted and completely drained, prior to the European tournament, from having just participated in a full season of football in their respective club team competitions, Dr. Ivy said " I would bet my money that most of these guys playing in this year’s EURO tournament were not physically and mentally at their best after playing a full season.”
A study by Swedish researchers from the University of Linkoping examined the correlation between European footballers’ exposure to match play in the months before the 2002 World Cup and their injuries and performances during the World Cup. The researchers observed that players who underperformed in the World Cup had played more matches in the weeks prior to the competition compared to those who performed better than expected. Researchers also observed that almost two-thirds of the players who had played more than one match a week during the last 10 weeks of the season either incurred injures or underperformed in the World Cup. The root and solution to the problem may be closely connected to the gross commercialization and the exorbitant amount of money that revolves around football.
The players united will never be defeated!
Adapted from here
Dr. Tobias Moskowitz, professor of economics at the University of Chicago and author of the bestselling book Scorecasting, warned about the economic imperatives that are pushing players to their limits.
“The economic incentive is there for more games and the hefty schedule that is in place. The fans want to go to and see as many games as possible, generating more revenues from ticket sales. You also have higher TV revenues from more advertisements. All of that adds up, and the players don’t get paid per game,” Dr. Moskowitz said. For the owners of the teams and the league bosses who control the game, it really does not matter if the players play too many games. “It may be that the league and players have to be willing to accept fewer financial rewards in order to obtain a more humane calendar,” Dr. Moskowitz said.
In the first phase of Euro 2012, participants played an average of three matches in less than ten days. Dr. John Ivy, a world renowned exercise physiologist at the University of Texas, said he highly doubted that a player would have been able to have a full recovery when that many matches were scheduled in such a short period of time. The organizers surely did not have the physiological interests of the players at heart. Exhausted and completely drained, prior to the European tournament, from having just participated in a full season of football in their respective club team competitions, Dr. Ivy said " I would bet my money that most of these guys playing in this year’s EURO tournament were not physically and mentally at their best after playing a full season.”
A study by Swedish researchers from the University of Linkoping examined the correlation between European footballers’ exposure to match play in the months before the 2002 World Cup and their injuries and performances during the World Cup. The researchers observed that players who underperformed in the World Cup had played more matches in the weeks prior to the competition compared to those who performed better than expected. Researchers also observed that almost two-thirds of the players who had played more than one match a week during the last 10 weeks of the season either incurred injures or underperformed in the World Cup. The root and solution to the problem may be closely connected to the gross commercialization and the exorbitant amount of money that revolves around football.
The players united will never be defeated!
Adapted from here
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