Committed to the new Champions League and Club World Cup formula, PSG is set for a very long 2024/2025 season. But how many matches exactly could it play this season? There are several answers depending on the paths in each competition. Let’s take stock.
This is the big topic of the moment in the football world and has been for a few years now. Are top-level footballers, particularly internationals playing in major European clubs, playing too many matches? Isn’t their health endangered by this hellish schedule and these matches every three days?
Many voices are being raised to denounce the lack of rest and the increased schedule with a new 36-team Champions League formula which automatically added two extra matches during the first phase, or even four in the event of play-offs, and the famous new 32-team Club World Cup, which will be played every four years with the first edition scheduled from June 15 to July 13, 2025 in the United States.
Rodri’s cry from the heart
Last week, before Manchester City’s 0-0 draw with Inter Milan in the Champions League, Spanish European champion Rodri spoke on the subject in a press conference: “A player cannot play 60 or 70 matches. Between 40 and 50 matches, a player can play at the highest level. Then, you are less efficient because it is not possible to maintain your physical level. We must take care of ourselves, we are the main characters of this sport, or this business, whatever you call it.”
Rodri also suggested the possibility of players going on strike, to shake things up: “If you ask any player, they will tell you, it is a general opinion among the players, it is not just Rodri’s opinion. If it continues like this, at some point we will have no other choice.” Five days later, the same Rodri suffered a serious knee injury against Arsenal and probably said goodbye to his season. Terrible.
Luis Enrique’s position on the overloaded calendar
Also questioned on the subject last week, Luis Enrique was more measured: “We are lucky that our league has two fewer teams, so that’s four fewer games this season. Obviously, if I were in the Premier League or La Liga, I would say something else. I think the French league has been smart to adapt to the needs of the clubs. I don’t have much to say. The calendar is going to expand and we are going to have to adapt.”
By having reduced Ligue 1 to 18 teams instead of 20 a year ago and having cancelled the Coupe de la Ligue in 2020, the LFP has considerably lightened the national calendar of French clubs, but a club like PSG, engaged in the Champions League and the Club World Cup, will still potentially play a lot of matches in 2024/2025. How many exactly? We have done the calculation.
PSG’s potential schedule in 2024/2025
Ligue 1: 34 matches
Barring a new global epidemic, PSG will play 34 matches in Ligue 1 this season, 17 at home and the same number away.
French Cup: 1 match minimum, 6 maximum
PSG will enter the competition in the 32nd round. If they go all the way, they will have played 6 matches in the competition.
Champions League: 8 matches minimum, 17 maximum
There are the 8 matches of the new championship phase (compared to 6 previously), then potentially the play-offs (2 matches) if PSG finishes between 9th and 24th place in the general classification, then the round of 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals in two-legged matches, and a final in a single match.
Club World Cup: 3 matches minimum, 7 maximum
The format of this new competition is simple: three group matches. The top two in each group qualify for the round of 16 and the knockout phase is played over one match, going from the round of 16 to the final, without a match for third place.
Champions Trophy: 1 match
The Champions Trophy between PSG and Monaco was initially scheduled to be played on August 8 in China, then potentially on August 28, but that fell during the Paralympic Games. The LFP has still not found a new date or location for the moment.
Total: between 47 and 65 matches
PSG will therefore play at least 47 matches this season, in the event that it goes out in the first round of the Coupe de France and in the first phase of the Champions League and the Club World Cup. If PSG goes all the way in all its Cups, it will have played a total of 65 matches. A mind-boggling figure that is interesting to compare with that of the last 13 seasons of PSG.
The number of official TCC matches played by PSG
- 2023/2024: 53 matches
- 2022/2023: 50 matches
- 2021/2022: 50 matches
- 2020/2021: 57 matches
- 2019/2020: 49 matches
- 2018/2019: 55 matches
- 2017/2018: 57 matches
- 2016/2017: 57 matches
- 2015/2016: 59 matches
- 2014/2015: 59 matches
- 2013/2014: 55 matches
- 2012/2013: 44 matches
- 2011/2012: 51 matches
Another interesting comparison is with the English club Manchester City, which will play 38 Premier League matches and has two domestic cups to play (the League Cup and the FA Cup for a maximum of 11 matches in total), in addition to the Community Shield, the Champions League and the Club World Cup. In total, the Skyblues could play between 52 and 74 matches this season.
And in addition to this overloaded club calendar, it is also worth noting that the big European clubs like PSG have a majority of international players in their squad and these players also play many matches with their country throughout the season, as well as in the summer, depending on the major competitions.
Last season, Lee Kang-in played 36 matches with PSG, plus 20 with South Korea between the Asian Games, the Asian Cup, the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the friendly matches. Achraf Hakimi played 40 matches with PSG and 20 with Morocco between the CAN, the friendlies, the Olympic Games, as well as the CAN and World Cup qualifiers.
