Real Madrid could give players breaks during season: Ancelotti

Madrid: Real Madrid are considering allowing players to go on short holidays during the season because of concerns about the congested fixtures schedule, manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Saturday.

On the eve of their LaLiga season debut at Mallorca, Ancelotti said that the steady increase in regional and international games on the calendar was taking its toll on players.

"The players need rest, they need holidays and we are thinking about giving individual holidays to the players during the season," Ancelotti told a news conference on Saturday.

"We are thinking about giving in-season breaks, give a week off for a player so he can go and stay with his family, especially international players, who have very little rest because they usually don't get even a day's holiday in international breaks.

"We are assessing it with the medical staff and the physical preparation..."

After winning the LaLiga and Champions League double last season and now bidding for up to seven titles in the 2024-25 campaign, Ancelotti believes the club need to make sacrifices to preserve the health and fitness of their players.

He said his staff were already looking at the 2025-26 season, with the 2026 World Cup in June and July in Canada, Mexico and the United States putting extra demands on international players.

After winning the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta on Wednesday, Real Madrid will be competing in LaLiga, the Champions League, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, plus the FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the new FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

"At the moment we still don't even know the date (of the Club World Cup), same with the Intercontinental. We are bidding for seven titles but we still don't know when or how," Ancelotti said.

"The 2025-26 season might start earlier because of the World Cup, so we have to plan accordingly starting this season.

"For example, when Vinicius Jr comes back after playing with Brazil, instead of playing in LaLiga, he rests for three or four days, he goes on holiday and then he comes back.

"That's the only way. Normally those players train, even if they don't play. But we're going to take that away, let them do what they want on those days. That's what we're going to do."

The packed calendar has been a source of concern and heated debate in world soccer over the last few years. The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) warned world soccer's governing body FIFA in May that they were ready to go on strike over concerns that the playing calendar is overloaded.

Global players' union FIFPRO, along with the PFA and the World Leagues Association (WLA), have threatened to take legal action if FIFA continues expanding tournaments and creating new competitions.