PFA calls increased added time as ‘crazy’ with player welfare already a big concern
Football has been warned it is “sleepwalking into a disaster” amid an escalating player welfare row as 100-minute matches arrive in the Premier League.
Maheta Molango, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, believes “crazy” demands are also worsening the sport’s sleeping pills crisis.
Referees in competitions worldwide must now follow instruction from the game’s lawmakers to more accurately measure time lost to stoppages.
However, amid a mounting outcry this week from players, research underlines how some of England’s finest young talents were already being pushed to the brink by packed schedules. Twenty-year-old Jude Bellingham, according to FifPro, has played more competitive minutes (15,000) than Michael Owen, Frank Lampard and David Beckham combined by the same age.