Phil Foden did not lose his talent. The game took it from him — game by game, week by week, across a schedule that squeezes elite players until something gives.
That is the verdict of Maheta Molango, chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, who has described the Manchester City midfielder as a direct “victim” of football’s dangerously overcrowded fixture calendar.
Foden missed out on England’s 26-man World Cup squad after a disappointing 2024-25 season — a campaign that bore little resemblance to the form that made him PFA Player of the Year just twelve months earlier. Thomas Tuchel left him out. The decision was defensible based on this season’s output. But Molango argues the deeper question is not why Foden underperformed — it is what caused him to.
A Player Ground Down by the Machine
“The number of games that he’s been available for has dropped, and when he has been available, it has not been the version of Phil Foden we saw two years ago,” Molango told reporters.
He did not stop at observation. He named the cause directly.
“Unfortunately, he is one of the victims of this crazy calendar that only makes sense for those pursuing commercial gain to the detriment of the quality of the spectacle and the protection of players, who should be football’s heritage.”
The language is blunt and deliberate. Molango is not making a technical complaint about fixture congestion. He is making a moral argument: that football’s governing bodies and commercial interests have prioritised revenue over the human beings whose bodies and careers generate that revenue.
Foden is not the only casualty. Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer, 24, also endured a difficult season and missed Tuchel’s selection. “We’ve seen only a glimpse this year to the detriment of Chelsea fans and England fans,” Molango said.
Two of England and the Premier League’s most gifted young players, both absent from a World Cup, both diminished by a season of excess demands. The pattern is not coincidental.
The Data Behind the Warning
Molango’s organisation, Fifpro — the global body representing professional footballers, on whose board Molango serves — has been tracking workload data across the elite game. The findings raise serious questions about the players who did make Tuchel’s squad.
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice played 36 Premier League games this season. Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk featured in all 38 of the Reds’ top-flight fixtures. Both are named in England’s World Cup party. Both, according to Fifpro’s data, face elevated risks of injury or reduced performance next season because of the accumulated load they are carrying into the tournament.
They will now travel to North America for an expanded 48-team World Cup — a competition that introduces more matches, more travel, and games played in high summer temperatures across multiple US host cities.
Fifpro has warned clearly that players cannot sustain “high-threshold competitive seasons” year after year without physical and performance consequences. Rice and van Dijk are being asked to do exactly that.
“Survival of the Fittest”
Molango’s most alarming assessment concerns the World Cup itself.
“There is a big chance that the tournament may become a survival of the fittest,” he said, “because some of the most talented players at the biggest clubs will reach a point where it is simply too much. You cannot go into a competition having already played 60, or close to 60, games.”
The expanded World Cup format — increased from 32 to 48 teams — was sold to the public as a celebration of global football. In practice, it adds fixtures to a calendar already straining under the weight of expanded Champions League groups, domestic leagues, international breaks, and commercial tournaments.
For elite club players, the season never truly ends. It simply transitions from one competition to the next with diminishing recovery time between them.
What This Means for Nigerian Football Fans
From a Nigerian perspective, this debate carries direct relevance.
Nigerian fans follow Premier League football with extraordinary passion. The players they admire most — the Fodens, the Palmers, the Rices — are the products of elite academies that develop technical brilliance and then subject it to a commercial machine that burns through it faster than it can be replenished.
Nigeria’s own Super Eagles players, including those based in European leagues, face the same calendar demands. The conversation about player welfare and fixture congestion is not a wealthy nation’s luxury concern. It affects every player who moves from African football to the European professional game.
When Molango says Foden is a victim, he is describing a systemic failure. The victim today is an England international. Tomorrow it could be a Nigerian talent working through a congested European season, arriving at the Africa Cup of Nations or the World Cup running on empty.
Football’s calendar is broken. The people who profit from it know this. The players are paying the price.
