October 7th The Guardian wrote an article that the expanded Club World Cup has caused serious consequences. Top players have almost no rest time this summer after a long season, resulting in frequent injuries.

For example, Chelsea player Palmer is the most typical victim. He played 57 games for the club and national team in the 2023-24 season, and had no rest for three consecutive summers. In the end, he was sidelined for a long time due to a groin injury.

Chelsea coach Maresca believes that the team's current wave of injuries (Colwell tore his anterior cruciate ligament, Delap and others also fell one after another) "may be some consequences of the Club World Cup." This view is supported by a report from the Global Players Association, which stated that participating players face a higher risk of injury due to a lack of adequate pre-season preparation.

The monitoring report concluded that those players who participated in the Club World Cup after completing domestic leagues, like hundreds of players, did not receive adequate pre-season preparation, which affected their performance levels and increased the risk of injury.

This injury crisis is not unique. Arsenal's Maduekai missed two months with a knee injury; many of Paris Saint-Germain's main players (Marquinhos, Dembele, etc.) suffered injuries; Alexander-Arnold, who had just moved to Real Madrid, tore his hamstring after experiencing Liverpool's championship season and Club World Cup; and Bellingham also postponed necessary shoulder surgery due to a tight schedule.

Klopp has previously denounced the Club World Cup as "the worst idea in history" and warned that it will leave players with no recovery time. Although some argue that injuries are inevitable, forcing more games on the existing basis will undoubtedly damage the "product" of football itself. While there are seemingly unaffected examples like Nottingham Forest's Igor Jesus, the intensity and schedule of the Brazilian league he plays in is completely different to that of the European giants.

The reality is that teams like Chelsea are clearly exhausted physically and mentally, and this has become a warning to the entire football world. However, the real question is, in the face of the cruel reality of players constantly falling, does FIFA really care?