Is Club World Cup a risk to player welfare and integrity of football?

THE expanded 32-team Fifa Club World Cup kicks off in the US next week with fears that the sport's governing body could be killing the goose that laid the golden egg, with profits placed above player welfare.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

Most of the criticism of the tournament has focused on the timing, in the off-season window when players usually recharge after gruelling domestic and continental campaigns. It was not such a major factor in its previous guise, when it featured a handful of teams who only played a few matches.

The current tournament will now run for almost a month, with the eight groups of four teams playing 63 matches in total. The top two in each group will qualify for the knockout rounds. The $1bn prize money is an obvious draw-card for the clubs involved, including South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns. But the clubs are likely to pay a heavy toll next season in terms of players’ mental and physical fatigue, with depression, anxiety and burnout increasing the risk of injury.