Maheta Molango: The Survival of the Fittest in Football

Maheta Molango does not raise his voice. He does not need to. The numbers do that for him.

The chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association looks at a calendar that has been stretched, twisted and commercialised to breaking point and sees a World Cup looming that, in his words, will be “the survival of the fittest.” Not the best. Not the most gifted. Simply the ones still standing.

“The World Cup should be the culmination of a dream,” he says. “But the reality is that it will be the survival of the fittest. It’s not right.”

This is not the usual polite grumbling about fixture congestion. This is a warning shot.

‘We live in a world of bullies’

Molango’s argument is stark: football’s elite are being run into the ground, and the game is starting to warp around that reality. Matches are increasingly decided by who has anything left in their legs, not by who has the better ideas.

“Now you see games which are not won by the best team, they are won by the fittest,” he says. “The players are superheroes. They are also very well paid. But that does not mean they should be pushed to the limit from a human perspective.”

He talks about burnout. About frightening conditions. About decision‑makers who, as he puts it, “think you can just bully your way through.”

“Maybe the players need to self regulate. That friendly you have organised, I’m not going to play it,” he says. “The authorities have decided to encroach, we live in a world of bullies and they think you can just bully your way through.

“But unfortunately, people don’t seem to realise they are dealing with human beings and those human beings are not as stupid as maybe they think they are. They understand the power of the collective. They are not dumb. They are smart and switched on.”

Van Dijk at the red line

The data backs him up. According to Opta, 19 Premier League players who have already played more than 4,000 minutes in all competitions this season will head straight into the World Cup. Across Europe’s big five leagues, 11 of the top 20 minute‑eaters are from the Premier League.

• Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk sits at the very top with 4,761 minutes.
• His team‑mate Dominik Szoboszlai is fourth on 4,556.
• Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers is the highest‑placed Englishman, 11th on 4,382 minutes.

Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest also feature heavily, their players dragged across domestic fixtures, European campaigns and regular international duty.

Last year’s Fifpro report on workload, looking ahead to the 2024‑25 season and the expanded Club World Cup, branded the schedule “unprecedentedly long and congested” and called for minimum four‑week close‑season breaks and winter shutdowns.

The sport’s response? Expand the World Cup. Expand the Club World Cup. Expand the Champions League. Add the Conference League. The English game has quietly scrapped FA Cup replays, but kept the League Cup in place. The machine keeps demanding more.

Back in September 2024, Manchester City midfielder Rodri said players were “close” to strike action after his own 63‑game season. Later that month, he ruptured his ACL.

‘I don’t drink, I don’t go out – and I’m injured’

Molango has spent the last two years in dressing rooms, boardrooms and hotel lobbies, laying out the calendar in brutal detail. Some players only truly understood when their bodies gave way.

“I was talking to one player who said to me: ‘I don’t drink, I don’t go out, I could not do more to be fit but I’m injured.’ He said to me, ‘You were right! When you came to see us two years ago about the calendar, we listened, but… you were right.’”

The idea of action has already been floated.

“There was one occasion this year in this country where they said to me: ‘Should we think about doing something?’” Molango reveals. Until now, the PFA has largely protected domestic competitions, the “bread and butter” for most of its members. Most wages still come from league and cup football at home.

“We have always danced to the tune of others,” he says. “But let me tell you, this is a generation of players who are so smart, so switched on, so committed and they see the bigger picture.”

He points to Spain for proof that players can slam the brakes on.

When La Liga’s stars simply said ‘no’

“La Liga have done a fantastic job over the years,” Molango says. “They wanted to play a game in Miami. They did their usual and just decided to crack on. The players just said we are not going. In the end, the game was cancelled.

“If there’s one league with strong leadership, it’s La Liga. There was no game because the players realised they are the product. You can sell tickets but we are not going.

“That should have been a wake‑up for football. If the players are not there. There is no game. They need to understand what the players think.”

The message is simple: if players refuse, the spectacle collapses. The industry exists because they run, tackle, pass and score. Strip that away and there is nothing left to sell.

‘I couldn’t breathe’

The pressure is not just about volume of games. It is also about where and when they are staged.

Molango travelled to the Premier League’s Summer Series in the United States last year and spoke to players involved in the Club World Cup. Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez described the heat at the Club World Cup as “incredible” and “dangerous” and said it left him “really dizzy.”

Molango shares the concern.

“The temperatures, climate and lunchtime kick-offs were a huge concern. In fairness, FIFA listened over kick-off times and venues when it came to scheduling. But concerns are still there ahead of this summer.

“I went to the Premier League summer series. I went to a game in Philadelphia at 3pm and with the temperatures, I couldn’t breath. The games were back to back and the difference between the early and the later games were like night and day.

“I’ve spoken to players directly who said to me they couldn’t breathe. The grass is so dry because they are American Football pitches. You go to Atlanta and the pitch is so dry. They are not playing NFL.”

Kane, Rice, Bellingham – and the pyramid

One of the PFA’s quiet strengths is its membership. Global superstars and League Two journeymen pay the same subs and vote in the same elections. Molango insists the biggest names care deeply about the rest of the pyramid.

“You need to remember that most of them come from the football pyramid,” he says. “Even the national team. Harry Kane has played for Leyton Orient. I don’t need to explain to him what it means. I don’t need to explain it to Kyle Walker. Declan Rice was rejected from an academy.

“They get it. Jude Bellingham played in the Championship with Birmingham City. I don’t need to tell him what it means. They get it. It’s not just a fight for them because it’s also a fight for whatever comes next.”

He borrows a phrase from the Lionesses.

“I loved an expression from the Lionesses. ‘We want to leave the shirt in a better place.’ The Kim Littles, Leah Williamson. It’s not just about themselves. They want to leave a legacy and to leave the shirt in a better place. That was not necessarily the case 20 years ago.

“I’ve got captains calling me and some are not even in the starting XI but they call me because they care. Both on the men’s and women’s side.

“What is for sure, the PFA is here for the right reasons. People will not just bully through when they want. Luckily, we live in a country with laws and that will always be the last resort. The days of thinking the players are the weakest link are over. They are the strongest link.”

Rice and the 70‑game grind

If you want a symbol of the modern workload, look at Declan Rice.

The Arsenal midfielder is on course for a 70‑game season for club and country. At 27, he has already logged 4,246 minutes in all competitions this campaign, the 10th‑highest total among Premier League players and the second‑highest Englishman behind Villa’s Rogers.

Molango knows how the story usually ends. Rice could arrive at the World Cup spent, but the narrative will not spare him.

“Who will have sympathy for Declan Rice?” he asks. “Everyone forgets the 68 games. If he’s lucky then he could get to 68 games even before the World Cup. Who remembers that? No-one. They will be busy saying: We need to win the World Cup.”

That is what troubles him most: the way the individual is erased by the demand for more. More games, more money, bigger TV deals. The human cost is quietly written off.

‘We talk about everything but the players’

Molango uses a corporate analogy to make his point.

“We need to put the game back into the centre of the industry. This is like Apple having a board meeting and talking about everything about the next iPhone. There’s no point in talking about the shop or the sales person but it’s pointless if the next iPhone is bad.

“When we go to meetings in football, it’s the same. We talk about everything but the players. We talk about everything apart from what happens on the pitch. We need to get football back at the centre of the game.”

The PFA’s stance is clear. It wants a cap on the number of games a player can be asked to play, a fixed summer break, and strict limits on back‑to‑back seasons.

“The data says a maximum of 50 to 60 games a year. It’s a maximum of 45 back-to-back. A minimum of one month’s rest each summer,” Molango says. “But they say, ‘Sorry, but the calendar is locked until 2030.’ But when it comes to adding games, it’s no problem. But when it comes to reducing games, it’s locked.

“It doesn’t work like this. They want it all. The people in the stadium. The broadcast and TV rights. The authorities are massively underestimating the way players have evolved over the years.”

The next World Cup will reveal just how far that evolution has gone – and whether the strongest link in football is finally ready to pull back.