DBasia.news – Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois criticized UEFA and FIFA. The Belgian goalkeeper accused them of not caring about the welfare of players with an increasingly busy football schedule.
Courtois questioned the purpose of the fight for the third place in the UEFA Nations League before Belgium lost to Italy. “It’s just a money game and we have to be honest about it,” Courtois said as quoted by Marca.
“We’re only playing this game because, for UEFA, it’s extra money and extra play on TV,” said the Real Madrid goalkeeper.
“Okay it’s a good game for us because it’s against Italy. For Italy it’s a good game because it’s against Belgium. Of course everyone says they want to play, but look at both teams and how much they change players. If both teams are in the final, there will be other players playing so it shows that we are playing too much.”
The 29-year-old goalkeeper questioned the schedule for the UEFA Nations League to be held in June 2022, five months before the Qatar 2022 World Cup was held.
“In June there will be four Nations League games. Why? Next year we will play the World Cup in November and we have to play again in June,” Courtois said.
Courtois said the players were short on vacation time and would suffer injuries from playing a full season at the highest level.
“We will get injured. Nobody cares about the players anymore. After a long season you have to play more Nations League games again and you will have two weeks off, and that is not enough for players to play for 12 months at the highest level, ” he said.
“If we never say anything, it’s always the same. Then there’s the idea of the Super League but it’s the same as an extra game and another trophy with the Conference Cup or whatever. The pattern is always the same.”
“They can be angry about a team wanting the Super League but they don’t care about the players. They only care about their pockets, that’s bad. You hear that now they want to have a European Cup or a World Cup every year. When are we going to rest?” added Courtois
“Players will only get injured, injured and injured. That’s the end. It has to be better and more treated. We are not robots. It’s just more games, less rest and nobody cares about us.”