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Relentless club football affecting players - UEFA
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-22 09:20
Europe's top players are failing to reproduce club form in international
tournaments because of burn-out, European soccer's ruling body UEFA said in its
post mortem of the 2004 European Championship in Portugal.
UEFA said it believed too little time to recover from club commitments
could explain why some of the biggest names in European football failed to shine
during Euro 2004.
"The clear message is that the people... who are overused in terms of
playing during the season are the stars and they are the one that suffer during
the championships," Andy Roxburgh, UEFA's technical director told a media
briefing in Stockholm after a meeting of Europe's national team coaches.
"It is just too many matches at too high a tempo."
Europe's traditional powerhouses such as France, Italy and Spain were
all knocked out before the closing stages of the tournament -- surprisingly won
by rank outsiders Greece.
But although some of the established names did not hit top form,
Roxburgh said the overall quality of football at Euro 2004 had been high with
emerging talent such as England's Wayne Rooney and Arjen Robben of the
Netherlands, picking up the baton.
"Euro (2004) gave international football an enormous boost," he said.
"A lot of people have been saying it has been dying in comparison with
the clubs."
Pressure on international managers, however, continues to be a problem
due to intense press scrutiny, growing public expectations and increasing player
power.
"It has become such a high intensity, pressurised job, for many it is a
four-year cycle," said Roxburgh.
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