FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Champions League - Group C - Real Madrid v 1. FC Union Berlin - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - September 20, 2023 Real Madrid's Eduardo Camavinga during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Isabel Infantes/File Photo
(Reuters) - France's players union (UNFP) has called for an overhaul of the football calendar after a host of players suffered serious injuries.
Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga suffered a knee ligament injury in training with France while club team mate Aurelien Tchouameni went down with a stress fracture to his left foot during their win over Barcelona last month.
Paris St. Germain midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery is out for the rest of the year after the 17-year-old picked up an ankle injury making his debut for the Les Bleus.
"We were right. We knew it. We said it. Repeatedly. And said it again," UNFP said in a statement late on Wednesday.
"But while senior executives are obliged to listen to us, it's rare that they actually listen to us, especially when the interests at stake go beyond the boundaries of the field."
UNFP said it was "high time to undertake a thorough reform of the calendar".
"If the post-World Cup period has vindicated all those who are calling for an overhaul of the fixture list, these are only the first signs of an even deeper crisis that will also end up damaging the spectacle," it added.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
