On Tuesday, the men's new Champions League model kicks off. The previous system with four-team groups and double matches has been replaced by a basic series with 36 teams, where each team meets eight different opponents.
More matches than ever before, in other words – a team can get as many as 17 matches in the tournament – and perhaps too many for the players to cope with.
Manchester City-back Manuel Akanji thinks the new format is both complicated and leads to even less rest.
It's just match after match and I don't know how it's going to work in the coming years. You can't just add more matches and hope it will continue as it always has. You have to think about the players too, he says ahead of the Champions League start, where City begins at home against Inter on Wednesday, according to ESPN.
Critical player union
For several years, the player union Fifpro has demanded fewer matches and a calmer playing schedule. Instead, the development is going in the opposite direction with expansions of both the Champions League and the World Championship and the Club World Championship.
In the winter, there are no breaks at all. So if you're lucky, you get two weeks off (in the summer) and then you have to go into the next season. It never ends, says Akanji.
Half-jokingly, the 29-year-old says he'll soon have to hang up his boots if it continues like this.
Maybe I'll have to retire when I'm 30.
Premiere over three days
He gets support from former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Thierry Henry. The 47-year-old Frenchman, now an expert commentator on TV, takes Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham as an example. The English national team star played 42 matches with Real last season and another seven in the European Championship this summer, and then suffered an injury that has kept him out of play for the last month.
For us, it's fantastic to be able to commentate on more matches. But there's a big but, and it's about the coaches' perspective. There are too many matches. As a former player, I don't know how they manage, says Henry according to The Athletic.
The premiere round of the Champions League is divided over three days, Tuesday-Thursday this week. Then it's Tuesdays and Wednesdays that apply.
Among Tuesday's matches, the top match Milan-Liverpool stands out, while reigning champion Real Madrid takes on Stuttgart.
Tuesday, September 16
18.45: Juventus-PSV Eindhoven, Young Boys-Aston Villa.
21.00: Real Madrid-Stuttgart, Bayern Munich-Dinamo Zagreb, Sporting Lisbon-Lille, Milan-Liverpool.
Wednesday, September 17
18.45: Bologna-Shakhtar Donetsk, Sparta Prague-Salzburg.
21.00: Paris Saint-Germain-Girona, Club Brugge-Borussia Dortmund, Celtic-Slovan Bratislava, Manchester City-Inter.
Thursday, September 18
18.45: Red Star-Benfica, Feyenoord-Bayer Leverkusen.
21.00: Brest-Sturm Graz, Atalanta-Arsenal, Atlético Madrid-Leipzig, Monaco-Barcelona.
