Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski said the packed soccer schedule over the next few years is a major problem as players will struggle to deliver their best when there is little time for recovery.
The Pole played 60 matches for club and country since soccer restarted last May following the Covid-19 stoppage and the 32-year-old, who broke Gerd Mueller's Bundesliga goal-scoring record for a single season, said quality will undoubtedly suffer when players are pushed too far.
"So many people forget we're humans, we're not machines, we cannot play every day at the highest level of performance," Lewandowski told The Times in an interview https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/robert-lewandowski-there-is-too-much-football-the-quality-goes-down-fans-get-bored-0d588gddw.
"For football and for young players, that will be the big problem, to stay at the top for many years, because now and maybe the next two years, that will be extreme: so many big games."
Lewandowski, who will carry Poland's hopes at this summer's European Championship, said it is not only players who will suffer from too many games.
"Even for the fans, I think so many games will be more boring because if you wait for the games longer, there's more expectation, that feeling that you've been waiting for this," he added.
"The quality of games will go down. It's not possible to stay with this quality on the top with so many games."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)