PFA Chief critical of the Club World Cup, believing that the tournament is devaluing the sport of football overall.
Club World Cup ‘devaluing’ football – PFA chief.
Maheta Molango, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, claims that the Club World Cup is devaluing football since players are unable to perform well.
Players have been affected by the high temperatures, and Fifa’s prolonged tournament in America has also been influenced by the lack of spectators.
In Tuesday’s last-16 match in Miami, where temperatures reached 30 degrees Celsius and humidity levels reached 70%, ten Juventus players requested substitutions during their 1-0 loss to Real Madrid.
Due to the heat, Borussia Dortmund’s substitutes also watched the first half of their match against Mamelodi Sundowns from the changing room last month.
Thunderstorms have forced the suspension of six games, including Chelsea’s victory over Benfica in the round of sixteen, which was delayed by two hours.
“We’re devaluing the product and it’s a shame because if I’m a US fan and that’s my first exposure to soccer, that’s not good,” he said.
“We need to be mindful we’re competing with other sports and they’re very good at entertainment. Then it becomes a very poor comparison.
“We’ve reached a stage where the quality is dropping, because there’s no way you can have a good game if you play at 4pm in Mexico.
“It’s impossible, because the players themselves say to you ‘I cannot. I need to manage my efforts’ – which would mean what you see on the pitch is not good, the audiences drop, it’s as simple as that. This is all about money.
“My hope is that people now, even from a pure business perspective, will see that it does not make sense.”