Pep Guardiola has hit out at football’s decision makers over the sport’s non-stop calendar, and insists a 48-team World Cup will "kill the players".
The Manchester City manager believes players' best interests are being forgotten about when governing bodies schedule competitions, whether high-profile international tournaments or lucrative pre-season tours.
Reports this week have suggested FIFA president Gianni Infantino is open to the idea of expanding the World Cup from 32 teams to 48, while this year’s European Championship consisted of 24 teams, rather than 16, for the first time.
But Guardiola is against the larger competitions and says that teams should at least be able to make more substitutions during games if their players are asked to play all year round.