BoSox’s Cora: Soccer schedule tougher than MLB

Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora said he didn’t become a soccer fan until a visit to Anfield in 2019 for Liverpool vs. Manchester City, but since that moment has full admiration for just how much the overloaded soccer schedule compares to the grueling Major League Baseball season.

“I’m in awe to the fact that if you finish fourth, it’s actually a great season because you make it to the Champions League,” Cora told Men in Blazers Media Network founder Roger Bennett about Premier League play. “You guys have so many battles in between the standings that it is crazy, right? Even if you’re going to get relegated, it is like, oh s–t, this game means something, right?”

This 2024-2025 season will end up being the longest ever because FIFA has scheduled the Club World Cup over a four-week period in the United States in June and July.

Leading players spoke out about fixture overload last fall, with Rodri, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham raising concerns about football’s increasingly crowded fixture list and managers such as Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Jürgen Klopp sounded alarm bells over exhaustion. Injuries this season have had an unprecedented impact on several major clubs, including Arsenal and Real Madrid.

Cora said he really did not get a sense of it until he met Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk on his last visit to Anfield in November of 2024 and they discussed soccer’s packed schedule and compared it to the MLB season.

The 162-game MLB regular season runs about six months with an All-Star weekend break. The season typically starts in late March or early April and ends in late September or early October, with the postseason extending into early November, ending in the World Series.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, since 1961 (when Major League Baseball expanded the schedule from 154 games), fewer than five players a year on average have completed the Cal Ripken Jr.-esque feat of playing at least 162 games in a season.

Last season, just four players played in all 162 regular season games — Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos and Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson, Braves DH Marcell Ozuna and New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.

“Actually, Virgil was in awe. They know a little bit of baseball, but they don’t understand how it goes,” Cora said.

“He asked me, how many games do you guys play? I know it’s a lot. I’m like, yeah, man, it’s 162. He’s like, oh, that’s crazy. I said, no, no, no, no, no. What’s crazy [is] what you guys do.

“You guys are playing for four cups for four trophies and then you have to play international football on what? Eight months, 10 months. That is crazy. That is crazy.

“But that part is very similar to us. The grind. The grind, the grind, the grind.”

Soccer players and managers have discussed the oversaturation of the calendar, warning that the amount of games leads to a lack in recovery times and injuries.

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick most recently addressed the topic, calling on UEFA and FIFA to consider rests between tournaments after the last international break and blaming LaLiga for poor scheduling.

“It’s a task for UEFA, for FIFA that they say after international breaks it’s necessary that players have three days’ rest. LaLiga say we have to play and we say ‘Yes, we do it,'” Flick said.

“It’s to do with recovery for the players. I am not happy with this. When you see other leagues with Champions League teams, it’s different to here. When you play Champions League, it’s not about Real Madrid against Barça, it’s about protecting your Spanish teams. But we play, no excuses.”

On Tuesday night, the LaLiga leaders earned hard-fought 1-0 home win against Mallorca, to extend their lead over Real Madrid at the top of the table to seven points with five games to go.

But Barcelona also have to contend with the Copa del Rey final against Madrid on Saturday and they must also make sure not overload players as they head into the Champions League semifinal vs. Inter Milan next week.

In the United States, Inter Miami players like Lionel Messi compete in Major League Soccer, Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and the Club World Cup in addition to representing their national teams.

Across the globe, players must find a way to recover between games to avoid injuries.

Player workload, of course, has been a long-standing issue, with the biggest clubs often in competitions until the final stages and then traveling for long-distance preseason tours in the United States or Asia.

These trips can last for two or three weeks and involve several matches.

The top players also have to factor in international games, and the travel that involves during a season, plus major tournaments every two years. It’s very easy to play upward of 60 matches.

This summer’s Club World Cup, meanwhile, will mean a monthlong, 32-team club competition for this first time in its new, expanded version. It will now be a 63-match competition and the opening game is slated for June 15 — just 15 days after the 2025 Champions League final.

In between, there are crucial World Cup qualifying fixtures, and the finals of the UEFA Nations League, to be played across the globe on June 4-10.

This comes on top of the extra two games in the expanded league phase of this season’s Champions League.

“Some leagues in Europe — themselves competition organisers and regulators — are acting with commercial self-interest, hypocrisy, and without consideration to everyone else in the world,” FIFA said in a 2024 statement about the calendar controversy.

“Those leagues apparently prefer a calendar filled with friendlies and summer tours, often involving extensive global travel. By contrast, FIFA must protect the overall interests of world football, including the protection of players, everywhere and at all levels of the game.”

Men in Blazers’ Bennett joked with Cora: “I think FIFA would love the footballers to play [a] 162-game season three times a week for the rest of the year. Wait until they find out about doubleheaders, Alex. Then their eyes are really going to light up.”

Lizzy Becherano, Sam Marsden and Mark Ogden contributed to this report.