Tottenham captain Heung-min Son calls on FA and FIFA to reduce number of games: 'This is really serious' | OneFootball

Players have never played as many games as the current schedule dictates

Tottenham captain Heung-min Son has followed the club's head coach and chairman in criticising the fixture schedule, and called for action from the game's governing bodies to protect players.

Son, who captains South Korea and frequently travels to Asia during international breaks, is the latest high-profile star to speak out on player welfare.

"Sometimes players are the main guys to have to say something," Son said. "There's definitely a lot of games and as a football fan who loves football you want to see quality games. Not as many as possible.

Zac Goodwin/PA Wire

"You don't want to see players struggling with injuries. No one wants to see it. A lot of games, a lot of travelling.

"We've to look after ourselves, which sometimes it's very hard. Mentally, physically you're not ready then going on to the pitch and then with the risk of injury is massive. We're not robots. We have to look after that and reduce the games definitely - better quality definitely should be the aim.”

"Don't get me wrong, we love playing football," Son continued. "That's clear. But the travelling and how much games we play. It's not just the games. It's preparing, mentally and physically. It's a lot of work. It's about adding more games.

"[Manchester] City played Sunday and Tuesday and it wasn't even flexible. It could be moved probably to play Wednesday instead of Tuesday. It's not flexible.

Everyone has to take this really serious ... there's way too many games

Heung-min Son

"That's what we're talking about. It's normal that everyone is at high risk of injury. It's not fair. Rodri said the right things. We play 50, 60 games and not more than 70 games. It's not fair."

Asked who should be responsible for implementing change, Son said: "Definitely not the players. When the fixtures come, the players have to play.

"There's a lot going on. You have FA and FIFA. Everyone has to take this really serious.

"It's not just random and a few players coming out. There's way too many games and what you want to see is the quality of the games. High quality games with top players. This should be the aim. Injuries sometimes come with less games but the possibility of lots of travelling, lots of games, injuries will be higher."

Spurs begin their campaign in the revamped Europa League at home to Qarabag on Thursday night, the first of eight games in the initial phase - up from six.

Postecoglou reiterated that the schedule is becoming "dangerous" for players but acknowledged that clubs and managers also have a responsibility to protect their stars.

"I have spoken already about the fact we're getting to a real dangerous level about what our expectations are around players," Postecoglou said.

"Instead of focusing on one or two tournaments, it's about the calendar. That is more of an issue. Players don't get a break between seasons any more like they used to. There are more tournaments both at club level, international level and continental level.

"So, it's going to get to a point where we are not going to have the best players out there playing and more even worst them breaking down for various reasons. It's definitely something that needs to be addressed.

"We have a responsibility as clubs, as managers as well that we protect our players as well. It's the reason we have squads. We have to be mindful that we can't on the one hand bemoan the fact we have so many games but we want to be in all competitions but we don't use our squads because we end up complicit with that."