Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti says the club are considering giving players holidays during the season to cope with fixture congestion.
Ancelotti’s comments come amid the Professional Footballers’ Association announcing in June that it, with the support of players’ union Fifpro, has joined a legal action against Fifa over the “overloaded and unworkable” football calendar.
“The players need rest, they need holidays and we are thinking about giving individual holidays to the players during the season,” said Ancelotti.
“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.”
Real Madrid won the La Liga title and Champions League last season before a number of their squad were involved in Euro 2024 or the Copa America during the summer.
This season, all three European club competitions will be expanded to 36 teams. The Champions League and Europa League will have eight first-phase games compared to the six in the 2023-24 campaign.
Real will play in a new Fifa Intercontinental Cup competition in December 2024, which will involve the winners of the Champions League facing a team that comes through intercontinental play-offs.
The La Liga campaign finishes on 25 May, 2025 before the Champions League final on 31 May.
There will then by a window of international games from 2-10 June before the start of the extended Fifa Club World Cup.
“At the moment we still don’t even know the date [of the Club World Cup], same with the Intercontinental Cup,” added Ancelotti, who side beat Atalanta to win the Uefa Super Cup on Wednesday.
“We are bidding for seven titles but we still don’t know when or how.
“The 2025-26 season might start earlier because of the [2026] 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 La Liga, 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.”
