{"id":609866,"date":"2025-12-03T16:29:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T16:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/609866\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T16:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T16:29:18","slug":"union-reveal-cody-gakpo-is-most-played-footballer-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/609866\/","title":{"rendered":"Union Reveal Cody Gakpo Is Most-Played Footballer in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid concerns over player welfare, a remarkable stat has emerged revealing Cody Gakpo<\/a> as the most-played footballer in the elite game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Footballers are playing more minutes than ever, with the sport\u2019s various organisations competing for relevance on the football calendar.<\/p>\n

As a team that usually competes on four fronts, Liverpool have a packed schedule. Throw in even more internationals for most of the squad, and you get a situation in which the Reds are simply playing too much football.<\/p>\n

Global players\u2019 union FIFPro said Liverpool and Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo<\/a> was involved in 71 competitive games for club and country in 2024, more than any other player.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fifteen of those came for the Netherlands, leaving him to play 61 matches for the Reds during the 52-week calendar year. <\/p>\n

\"BRIGHTON<\/p>\n

He played those 61 matches across the Premier League<\/a>, the Europa League<\/a>, the Champions League<\/a>, the FA Cup<\/a> and the Carabao Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With it being a World Cup year, he could come close to that tally again in 2025 if Liverpool and the Netherlands progress in their respective tournaments.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, FIFPro published a report recommending professional footballers be allowed at least a four-week off-season break and a minimum of four weeks in pre-season.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the mandatory summer break permitted is just three weeks.<\/p>\n

After the World Cup final on July 19, 2026, there is little more than a four-week gap until the Premier League<\/a> restarts on August 22.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jurgen Klopp\u2019s support for better player welfare<\/p>\n

\"SINGAPORE<\/p>\n

Jurgen Klopp<\/a> is among the most prominent voices for better player welfare, recently criticising the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup format.<\/p>\n

The former manager told<\/a> Welt am Sonntag: \u201cIt\u2019s all about the game and not the surrounding events \u2013 and that\u2019s why the Club World Cup is the worst idea ever implemented in football in this regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who have never had or do not have anything to do with day-to-day business any more are coming up with something.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is insane money for participating, but it\u2019s also not for every club.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year it was the Copa (America) and the European Championship, this year it\u2019s the Club World Cup, and next year the World Cup. That means no real recovery for the players involved, neither physically nor mentally.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI have serious fears that players will suffer injuries they\u2019ve never had before next season. If not next season, then it will happen at the World Cup or afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe constantly expect the players to go into every game as if it were their last. We tell them that 70 or 75 times a year. But it can\u2019t go on like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to make sure they have breaks, because if they don\u2019t get them, they won\u2019t be able to deliver top performances \u2013 and if they can\u2019t achieve that any more, the entire product loses value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well said, Jurgen. It doesn\u2019t matter how much money you earn, it doesn\u2019t change your body\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid concerns over player welfare, a remarkable stat has emerged revealing Cody Gakpo as the most-played footballer in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[22690,94,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-609866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-cody-gakpo","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115656589082811931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}