England boss Sarina Wiegman lamented the congested football calendar after naming a 23-player squad to kick-start the Lionesses’ preparations for the upcoming Euro 2025 qualifiers.
The headline news was that captain Leah Williamson will return to the Lionesses for the first time after a ten-month absence following an ACL injury. However, the international fixture schedule raises concern for Wiegman.
After failing to reach the Nations League finals and earn qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics, England face a summer without a tournament for the first time since 2020. Players like Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly have played three international tournaments back-to-back: 2021 Olympics, 2022 Euros and 2023 World Cup.
Not qualifying for the Olympics gives the Lionesses an element of rest, but the FIFA windows scheduled during June and July still pose a concern for Wiegman who is worried that the calendar is far too congested, denying her players the chance at proper rest.
“So far [the calendar] looks similar as last last year, so I’m very worried about that,” she said.
The women’s international schedule has a camp from May 27 to June 4, with two games scheduled, and another two are set for July 8–16. The Olympics run from July 25 to August 10. Afterwards, players get about two weeks off before club pre-season and Champions League qualifiers begin, and the WSL resumes in September.
“What the players ask all the time is where is rest for us because they want to compete,” she continued. “We want a player to be fit and fresh which means that you always also need rest, a proper rest.”
“I think it starts with with the FIFA calendar,” she continued. “Then, of course, it’s UEFA so starts with the Champions League. The Women’s Super League starts a little later, but players can’t have rest when you play in the first round of Champions League.
“Then the Federations need to adapt to that here in Europe. When we have a winter competition, if you adapt a little bit then you can build in some rest for players and that’s what really needs to do.”
While addressing the summer camps in June and July, Wiegman revealed that she is not in a position where resting key players that have played all throughout the recent tournaments and league football is possible.
“I’m not willing to do that ahead of the [summer camps] because we want to have the best players on the pitch, in the squad and we want to win. We want to make the chance of winning as high as possible,” she said.
“If I rest…
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