Keir RADNEDGE

Something’s got to give

European football is teetering on a knife-edge. One positive COVID test too many, and the entire tightrope could sever with consequences far more financially damaging than even this year’s initial lockdown.

This has come as no surprise to FIFPRO. The international players’ union has been warning FIFA, UEFA and the European leagues and clubs about the increasing risks of a fixtures logjam to players’ short-term fitness and long-term health.

Those warnings were repeatedly drowned out by trumpets proclaiming the equation of more competitions + more matches = more money. After all, came the response to FIFPRO, it’s your members whose pay packets will benefit. Why deny them the rewards of their extra labours?

The fixtures confusion created by the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a mixed