Raphael Varane ended his career playing for the national teams early this year after realizing something had to give. Didier Deschamps, the manager of France, recently acknowledged that despite his desire, Varane's decision could not be changed.
Raphael Varane, 29, believes that giving up international football is the only way to continue competing at the highest level for a very long time. He wants to extend his club career.
Raphael Varane has strongly criticized the amount of games that football players must play in an interview with France GQ, as reported by Le Figaro.
Raphael Varane spoke passionately about the pressures players are under to perform consistently at a top level with little downtime in between seasons.
“Physically or mentally, what we ask of players today is simply above the limits," the world cup winner said.
“You have to believe me, all the internationals who play in the European Cup and who never stop, go through periods of poor form lasting several months or get injured."
"The young people who start in the France team there, who have played in the World Cup, will have to make a lot of sacrifices if they want to stay at the top for 10 years."
“In recent seasons, we have always finished later and resumed earlier. We didn’t have time to work physically and we just recovered when we weren’t playing."
"So you can do that for a few seasons but after a while, either you have a crash and you are no longer recognized on the pitch for 6 months or a year, or you get injured," he explained.
We can all agree that Raphael Varane makes a valid argument. Too many connections are present. Consider the fruitless UEFA Nations League, which saw four international matches between nations in June after the club season ended.
There will be 48 countries competing in the 2026 World Cup, and an expanded Champions League will begin in 2024–2025. Additionally, FIFA has plans for a larger Club World Cup competition, and preseason friendlies are becoming more popular every year.
This season's schedule congestion has been worse than ever because of the World Cup that was crammed into the winter. Since the end of December, Manchester United has played twice weekly, and in April, they will play nine games in 30 days.
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