Premier League star insists players ready to STRIKE as new analysis comes to light

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Chris Wood insists players could go on strike unless football bosses put measures in place to protect them.

A report published by world players' union FIFPRO has laid bare the demands placed on footballers last season, in terms of minutes played, miles travelled and insufficient recovery time between matches and seasons. It also stated that all of the 32 teams involved in this summer’s Club World Cup who were analysed in the report, did not have the minimum 28-day rest period recommended by FIFPRO.

This comes on the back of FIFPRO finding that just 14 per cent of players in Europe’s big five leagues who featured in Euro 2024, had the same minimum rest period. And Nottingham Forest striker Wood has called on the game's authorities to start listening to players, before they take matters into their own hands.

Wood, who has joined FIFPRO's Global Player Council, was asked if a strike could happen. He said: "It's a potential thing I'm sure, but we don't ever want to get to that point. We want to be able to try and safeguard as early as possible, to prevent anything happening.

"As FIFPRO we want to work with FIFA and other governing bodies, to come to a better outcome and protect the players of the future, or the players of now.

"From the Club World Cup into the World Cup next year, there's not going to be a lot of rest time for a lot of these players.

"And it's about working together and coming to agreement, or a way of working in the future where we don't have to go to those extremes, and be able to just see each side's point of view.”

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But it remains to be seen if FIFPRO and FIFA will be able to reach a compromise, when it comes to the amount of games players are expected to be involved in.

FIFPRO is involved in two separate legal actions against world football’s governing body, over what it sees as a failure to consult over the international calendar. Relations between the two organisations are not good, with FIFA accusing the union of 'blackmail' in a statement in July.

FIFA wants to work with other player representative bodies, which FIFPRO insists are not legitimate enough to consult on players' behalf.

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