Despite a rare three-week pause in the football calendar, many of the Premier League's top players found no genuine rest during the extended international break. Data shows that 25 Premier League players called up by their countries played a full 360 minutes - the equivalent of four complete matches - during the window, including 13 who had also featured at the World Cup.
Among them was Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, who racked up 55 appearances for his club last season. He joins a group of players, including England's Declan Rice, Morgan Rogers and Harry Kane, who surpassed 4,000 minutes across all competitions in 2025-26 and appear on course for a similarly punishing workload this season.
Sports science and psychology experts say such demands cannot continue indefinitely. Dr Dave Richardson, head of psychology, sports science and wellbeing at the University of Lincoln, who has worked with Liverpool on player welfare, said bluntly: "It is not sustainable. We will start to see more clamour when we are not happy with the quality of performances; the public pay to see high quality."
Signs of strain are already visible. Five players withdrew from the England squad ahead of the recent international fixtures - Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford, Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento. Germany's Kai Havertz and France captain Kylian Mbappe, who was later injured during the window, also pulled out.
Maheta Molango, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, described the wave of withdrawals as a symptom of a troubled system. "When England see five players who need to withdraw when the single most proud moment a player has is to be called up for the national team, you just ask yourself, what's wrong about the industry?" he said. "They love to play for England. They love to play for their national team. But, unfortunately, your body puts a limit to it. You cannot cheat biology."
Molango is pushing for a mandatory three-week summer break alongside a three-week retraining period each year. However, Richardson believes implementing such reforms is complicated by football's fragmented governance, with competing bodies each promoting their own competitions. "There is no one body covering the playing schedule, and they all want predominance," he explained. "They are all vying for the spotlight and championing their product as the best."
Dr Chris James, a psychology lecturer at Cardiff University who studies sleep and athletic performance, argues that men's football lags behind in protecting players' mental wellbeing. "Particularly in the men's game, there is a culture where you need to look like they are coping," he said. "It is like going back in time, with attitudes to mental health." He noted that some players are resorting to nicotine pouches, known as snus, to maintain focus amid relentless scheduling.
Not everyone agrees reducing playing time is the answer. Former England defender Paul Robinson suggested that elite players would resist being rested even if given the chance, pointing to hypothetical Nations League finalists like Erling Haaland and Harry Kane as examples of competitors who would reject enforced rest. "Players want to play in these games," he said. Fellow former international Matt Upson acknowledged the intensive international window carries benefits for team bonding but cautioned that four matches at this stage of the season, after a demanding summer, represents a heavy burden.
With the Club World Cup now established, potential World Cup expansion looming, and no reduction planned in domestic or European fixtures, experts see no simple resolution ahead. As Richardson put it, players face a dilemma: continue playing and risk injury, or step back and risk losing their place. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't," he said.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.