Frenkie de Jong was not short of playing minutes in 2021. The 24-year-old Barcelona midfielder spent no less than 5805 minutes on the field in the past calendar year, according to research by CIES Football Observatory. This means that the playmaker only has to tolerate six field players worldwide.
Only Júnior Alonso (Atlético Mineiro and Paraguay), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli and Italy), Rúben Dias (Manchester City and Portugal), Éder Ferreira (Atlético Goianiense), Aubrey David (Deportivo Saprissa and Trinidad & Tobago) and Antonio Rüdiger (Chelsea) and Germany) made more minutes than De Jong in 2021. His 5805 minutes were spread over 68 games for both Barcelona and the Dutch national team. Last year, the list of CIES still led by Harry Maguire with 4745 minutes played. That number was much lower than this year due to the many cancellations due to the corona crisis. Then Dias came in second; this year the Portuguese finds himself a place lower on the list.
… and the podium of outfield footballers who played the most official game minutes in 2?0?2?1? is… ?? @junior_alonso4 (@Atletico & ????) ?? #GiovanniDiLorenzo (@sscnapoli & ????) ?? @rubendias (@ManCity & ????) ???????????????????????????????? pic.twitter.com/x68oYrboqT
— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) January 4, 2022
The figures of the research group largely overlap with a report from the international players’ union FIFPro from last October. Then it came to light that both Dias and De Jong were in the danger zone for overload. Both players played the majority of their matches, measured over the 2018/19 to 2020/21 season back to back-matches. That was defined by FIFPro as “playing at least 45 minutes in two consecutive matches, with less than five rest days in between.” According to the union, such a workload went against medical scientific advice for practicing top sport.
The report talked about the possibility of compulsory release of players after a certain number back to backmatches, which in practice could mean that, for example, a Premier League player would play two to eight fewer matches per season for his club and country. FIFPro also wanted players to have at least 28 days of vacation between seasons, and at least 14 days if there is a mid-season break, such as the winter break. Of all off season breaks however, 45 percent were shorter than 28 days and of the in season breaks was 30 percent shorter than 14 days. So there were many football players who did not get enough rest, skewed the FIFPro. “One player even spoke of an average of less than seven days of rest per day off season in the past three years.”
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