Thibaut Courtois has criticized football governing bodies UEFA and FIFA over the ever-increasing number of matches. In a scathing post-match interview, the goalkeeper said that these bodies only care about having “money in their pockets”. He said,
“They can be angry about other teams wanting a Super League but they don’t care about the players, they just care about their pockets,”
Courtois had already written off the third-place play-off game as pointless prior to the match
Belgium was beaten by Italy to the third spot on Sunday. Italy won 2-1 thanks to goals from Barella and Berardi. Belgium started the match without Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard. The former was out with muscle fatigue and the latter picked up an injury against France. Meanwhile, Italy also made significant changes to the line-up.
When the Nations League was formulated, the national associations wanted there to be two matches in the finals week of the competition. If they had not have qualified for the final two matches, it is likely the team would have played in the World Cup Qualifiers this weekend.
“This game is just a money game and we have to be honest about it. We just play it because for UEFA it’s extra money. Look at how much both teams changed [line-ups]. If both teams would have been in the final there would have been other players in the final playing. This just shows that we play too many games.”
-Thibaut Courtois
Thibaut Courtois slams FIFA
The player also criticized FIFA’s proposal for a biennial World Cup. The plans to overhaul the international calendar have been devised by FIFA’s head of global development Arsene Wenger. The aim is to increase major tournaments and reduce the qualifying games in a calendar year.
However, Courtois does not think it will help the players’ health.
“It’s a bad thing that players are not spoken about. And now you hear about a European Championship and a World Cup every year. When will we get a rest? Never.”
The Real Madrid goalkeeper is worried that players will be vulnerable to more injuries now more than ever due to this proposed change of schedule.
