The Crisis in Elite Football: Survival of the Fittest
Maheta Molango does not bother with diplomacy anymore.
Footballers, he says, are “being pushed to the limit” – and the breaking point is coming.
The Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive believes this summer’s World Cup, far from being the pinnacle of a career, is in danger of turning into a grim test of who can simply stay upright longest.
“The World Cup should be the culmination of a dream,” he says. “But the reality is that it will be the survival of the fittest. It’s not right.”
This is not a vague warning. It is backed by hard numbers, exhausted bodies and a calendar that has stopped listening.
Survival of the fittest, not the best
Molango’s central charge is brutal: elite football is no longer rewarding the best teams, just the ones who can still run.
“Now you see games which are not won by the best team, they are won by the fittest,” he argues. “The players are superheroes. They are also very well paid. But that does not mean they should be pushed to the limit from a human perspective.”
The threat is twofold. First, to the players themselves. Then, to the sport they carry.
“There is a real risk of the player. And for those who don’t care about that, there’s a real risk to the product because people will pay thousands of pounds to watch people ‘walking’ at best.”
The image is stark: fans spending fortunes to watch stars who can barely move, worn down by a calendar that has no off switch.
So what happens when the players decide they have had enough?
“Maybe the players need to self regulate,” Molango says. “That friendly you have organised, I’m not going to play it. The authorities have decided to encroach, we live in a world of bullies and they think you can just bully your way through.”
He is convinced that era is ending.
“People don’t seem to realise they are dealing with human beings and those human beings are not as stupid as maybe they think they are. They understand the power of the collective. They are not dumb. They are smart and switched on.”
Van Dijk’s marathon and a game on the edge
The numbers around player workload are already alarming.
According to Opta, 19 Premier League players who have each logged more than 4,000 minutes in all competitions this season are heading straight into the World Cup. Across Europe’s big five leagues, 11 of the top 20 minute-eaters are from the Premier League.
Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk sits at the top of the list with 4,761 minutes. Team-mate Dominik Szoboszlai is fourth with 4,556. The highest-placed English player is Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, 11th with 4,382 minutes.
Those figures do not include the emotional toll, the constant travel, the expectation to perform at full throttle every three days. Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest players all feature prominently because of the combination of European campaigns and regular international duty.
A Fifpro report into the 2024-25 season, including the expanded Club World Cup, condemned “unprecedentedly long and congested seasons” and called for minimum four-week close-season breaks and winter pauses. The recommendations sit awkwardly beside a reality in which new competitions keep appearing.
Manchester City midfielder Rodri said in September 2024 that players were “close” to strike action after his own 63-game season. He ruptured his ACL later that month.
FIFA and UEFA have been hammered for expanding the World Cup, the Club World Cup and the Champions League, while also adding the Conference League. In England, the domestic calendar has made minor adjustments – FA Cup replays scrapped – but the League Cup remains.
The machine keeps moving.
You were right – and the calendar that won’t stop
Molango tells the story of one player who tried to do everything right and still broke down.
“I was talking to one player who said to me: ‘I don’t drink, I don’t go out, I could not do more to be fit but I’m injured.’ He said to me, ‘You were right! When you came to see us two years ago about the calendar, we listened, but… you were right.’”
The penny is dropping in dressing rooms.
“There was one occasion this year in this country where they said to me: ‘Should we think about doing something?’” Molango reveals.
The PFA has traditionally avoided a direct confrontation with domestic competitions, which he calls “the bread and butter” of its members. Most players earn the bulk of their income at club level, not from international tournaments or global showcases.
“We have always danced to the tune of others,” he says. “But let me tell you, this is a generation of players who are so smart, so switched on, so committed and they see the bigger picture.”
He points to Spain for proof that players can slam the brakes on.
The Miami message: no players, no game
La Liga’s attempt to stage a league match in Miami became a defining moment for Molango.
“They wanted to play a game in Miami. They did their usual and just decided to crack on. The players just said we are not going. In the end, the game was cancelled.”
“If there’s one league with strong leadership, it’s La Liga,” he adds. “There was no game because the players realised they are the product. You can sell tickets but we are not going.”
That, in his view, should have shaken the entire sport.
“That should have been a wake-up for football. If the players are not there. There is no game. They need to understand what the players think.”
Heat, dry pitches and “dangerous” conditions
The problem is not only the number of games, but where and when they are played.
Molango attended the Premier League’s Summer Series in the United States and spoke to players who featured in last year’s Club World Cup. Conditions, he says, were on the edge of what is acceptable.
Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez described the temperatures at the Club World Cup as “incredible” and “dangerous” and admitted he felt “really dizzy”.
Molango shares those concerns.
“The temperatures, climate and lunchtime kick-offs were a huge concern. In fairness, FIFA listened over kick-off times and venues when it came to scheduling. But concerns are still there ahead of this summer.”
He recalls one afternoon in Philadelphia.
“I went to a game in Philadelphia at 3pm and with the temperatures, I couldn’t breathe. The games were back to back and the difference between the early and the later games were like night and day.”
Players told him the same story.
“I’ve spoken to players directly who said to me they couldn’t breathe. The grass is so dry because they are American Football pitches. You go to Atlanta and the pitch is so dry. They are not playing NFL.”
Elite footballers, at the end of 60-game seasons, are being asked to perform in searing heat on surfaces not built for them.
Kane, Rice, Bellingham – and a united dressing room
One of the PFA’s quiet strengths is that it represents both the global superstars and the lower-league professionals sharing cramped coaches on a Tuesday night. Molango believes that shared experience is fuelling a new sense of purpose.
“You need to remember that most of them come from the football pyramid,” he says. “Even the national team. Harry Kane has played for Leyton Orient. I don’t need to explain to him what it means. I don’t need to explain it to Kyle Walker. Declan Rice was rejected from an academy.”
“They get it. Jude Bellingham played in the Championship with Birmingham City. I don’t need to tell him what it means. They get it. It’s not just a fight for them because it’s also a fight for whatever comes next.”
He cites the ethos of the Lionesses.
“I loved an expression from the Lionesses. ‘We want to leave the shirt in a better place.’ The Kim Littles, Leah Williamson. It’s not just about themselves. They want to leave a legacy and to leave the shirt in a better place. That was not necessarily the case 20 years ago.”
The calls he receives underline that shift.
“I’ve got captains calling me and some are not even in the starting XI but they call me because they care. Both on the men’s and women’s side.”
Molango is adamant: the power dynamic has changed.
“What is for sure, the PFA is here for the right reasons. People will not just bully through when they want. Luckily, we live in a country with laws and that will always be the last resort. The days of thinking the players are the weakest link are over. They are the strongest link.”
Declan Rice and a 70-game season no one will remember
The case of Declan Rice encapsulates Molango’s anger.
He says the Arsenal midfielder will get “no sympathy” if he arrives at the World Cup exhausted after a marathon campaign, because the demands of more matches, more money and bigger TV deals drown out everything else.
Rice, 27, is staring at a 70-game season for club and country if Arsenal’s push for trophies runs deep and England go far. He has already played 4,246 minutes in all competitions, the 10th-highest total among Premier League players and the second-highest Englishman behind Villa’s Rogers.
Molango knows how the narrative will unfold.
“Who will have sympathy for Declan Rice? Everyone forgets the 68 games. If he’s lucky then he could get to 68 games even before the World Cup. Who remembers that? No-one. They will be busy saying: We need to win the World Cup.”
His answer is clear: caps on games, a fixed summer break, strict limits on back-to-back seasons.
“We need to put the game back into the centre of the industry,” he says. “This is like Apple having a board meeting and talking about everything about the next iPhone. There’s no point in talking about the shop or the sales person but it’s pointless if the next iPhone is bad.”
Football, he argues, is doing the same thing.
“When we go to meetings in football, it’s the same. We talk about everything but the players. We talk about everything apart from what happens on the pitch. We need to get football back at the centre of the game.”
The data, he insists, is already there.
“The data says a maximum of 50 to 60 games a year. It’s a maximum of 45 back-to-back. A minimum of one month’s rest each summer. But they say, ‘Sorry, but the calendar is locked until 2030.’ But when it comes to adding games, it’s no problem. But when it comes to reducing games, it’s locked.”
He pauses on that contradiction.
“It doesn’t work like this. They want it all. The people in the stadium. The broadcast and TV rights. The authorities are massively underestimating the way players have evolved over the years.”
The message is blunt. The players know their worth, they know their limits, and they know they are the product. The question now is not whether they will act, but how far they are prepared to go when the next kick-off comes too soon.
