Arne Slot, manager of Liverpool, is interviewed by TNT Sports during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 Second Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield
Arne Slot, manager of Liverpool, is interviewed by TNT Sports during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Round of 16 Second Leg match between Liverpool FC and Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield
(Image: 2025 James Gill - Danehouse)
Let us all spare a thought for European Champions Paris Saint-Germain. While Liverpool’s season finished over two weeks ago - with the Reds admittedly having already taken their foot off the gas over six weeks ago after clinching the Premier League title - the Parisians have not been afforded a moment’s rest.
PSG’s Ligue 1 campaign came to an end on May 17, with Luis Enrique’s side then lifting the French Cup after beating Reims on May 25.
Fast forward another week to May 31 and they were thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final to be crowned champions of Europe for the first time.
Just four days later, the June international break got underway with the Nations League semi-finals. PSG had 10 players involved in the finals alone (contested between eventual winners Portugal, Spain, France and Germany), never mind the rest of their internationals representing their countries elsewhere.
Having won the Champions League final at Munich’s Allianz Arena on May 31, PSG’s four-man Portuguese contingent were triumphant there again when beating Spain in the Nations League final on June 8.
PSG’s season started all the way back on August 16 away at Le Havre, 296 days ago. But rather than their players now being greeted with a long overdue summer-break, they must fly off to the United States to compete in the inaugural revamped FIFA Club World Cup which gets underway on June 14.
Should the Ligue 1 champions follow up their maiden Champions League - which too had been expanded - win by being crowned champions of the world, their campaign will extend to July 13 - a whopping 331 days after that aforementioned Ligue 1 opener.
But the 2025/26 Ligue 1 season is then due to start a month later on the weekend of August 15/16/17.
While you would expect PSG to be afforded a small break after their United States exploits, a disjointed pre-season then commences.
Of course, it is not just the Parisians who will be stung by such a congested schedule. Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Red Bull Salzburg make up UEFA’s 12-participants in this summer’s controversial 32-team tournament.
Man City’s Manuel Akanji has blasted the tournament and admitted he and his team-mates would rather not be taking part.
"I have been a strong critic of this competition for some time now,” the Switzerland international said. “We players would love to have some holidays, and some time for our bodies to rest.
“My City teammates are not exactly overjoyed about the tournament either. But it's now right in our faces, and there is nothing we can do about it.
"If we take part, then of course we want to win it. But if we reach the final, then the time period for us to recover ahead of the new season will become even shorter.”
Meanwhile, England manager Thomas Tuchel believes the FIFA Club World Cup will give the likes of Liverpool a ‘huge advantage’ in next season’s Premier League title-race.
"I think (the Club World Cup) will have a huge impact and it will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage in the next season to not be there," the German said. "I think it will be a very nice experience for the players who are there to play this tournament for the first time, so I have mixed feelings about it.
"I decided not to worry too much, because why should I? It is a given, and no-one knows what will be the outcome of it or the effect. We will deal with the effect when the effect comes and let's see."
Tuchel is right to suggest a well-rested Liverpool and Arsenal are poised to benefit in the title-race at the expense of a potentially fatigued Man City and Chelsea.
But the knock-on effect in next season’s Champions League will surely be even greater, with a greater number of leading sides set to suffer.
From UEFA’s 12 participants in the FIFA Club World Cup, nine have already booked their place in next season’s Champions League league phase. Benfica and Red Bull Salzburg will have to navigate qualification rounds to compete, while Porto failed to qualify altogether.
You would expect that all nine will hope to progress deep into next season’s Champions League. But at some point their constant schedule will surely take its toll.
And if the wings of the likes of PSG, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Man City and Bayern Munich are all clipped as a result of such additional excursions, Liverpool are poised to profit.
The Reds are the highest-ranked side in the UEFA coefficients who are not taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup, with this year’s beaten semi-finalists Barcelona and Arsenal not too far behind.
The trio should arguably be considered early favourites for the Champions League as a result - if the knock-on effect from sides competing in the FIFA Club World Cup this summer indeed comes into play.
Liverpool’s European campaign came to a premature end this season when they lost on penalties to eventual winners PSG in the round-of-16, coming at a time when the Reds were admittedly not in their best moment.
Only last week, Ibrahima Konate admitted to the Athletic that Liverpool were suffering from fatigue when facing his boyhood side.
“I’m very happy with the season we had,” he said. “Even though we would have liked to go a bit further in the Champions League.
“We can be sad about that, but it came during a period when we weren’t at our best and a lot of fatigue had built up.
“In the end, we’re happy to have ended up with the Premier League.”
Next season’s Champions League final takes place in Budapest on May 30 - six days after the end of the Premier League season.
Should PSG - who will likely also have to fly out to take part in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup (hosted in Qatar this season) in December - reach back-to-back Champions League finals, they will have been playing continuously for 652 days.
There were deserved European champions this year, and by far the best side the Reds locked horns with, but something has to give.
While Liverpool were suffering with fatigue against the Parisians this season, the shoe is about to be on the other foot. And having ruthlessly taken advantage of Man City and Arsenal's drop-off in the Premier League this year, Arne Slot's side will once again be looking to pounce.