Among coaches, nerves to manage – Football and mental health

If it's still not enough in the eyes of FIFA, too much is too much for footballers. For several weeks, the latter have gradually opened the debate on the overloaded calendar, like Ibrahima Konaté, during the tricolor rally in October: « This is a subject that needs to be talked about, that should not be neglected. He there are so many matches. […] In the Premier League, with Boxing Day, we don't have a holiday. There are too many matches, it's beyond us. » Worried about the repercussions of this frantic pace on his body and that of his colleagues, the Liverpool defender hoped for a collective start: « If tomorrow all the leaders in the world of Football decide to bang their fists on the table… […] If there is a movement that can lead to understanding, I think the players will follow it, because it is in all of our interests. » A movement which will then have to involve coaches, who are also concerned by this unsustainable pace, explicitly pointed out by a study from the University of Louvain, led by Professor Lode Godderis, presented this Wednesday.

Klopp the whistleblower

If public opinion is gradually becoming aware of the danger weighing on football artists, the fate of coaches has not interested many people until now. Some will remember André Villas-Boas' statements on this subject, but it was the announcement of Jürgen Klopp's departure from Liverpool that drew attention to the subject. At the end of January 2024, after almost nine years on Merseyside, the Normal One recognized psychological wear and tear, despite the successes achieved: “I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I like everything. […] I'm running out of energy. I already knew for a long time that I would have to announce it at some point. I know I can't do this job over and over and over and over again. » An admission which found an echo with Pep Guardiola who, a few weeks later, announced that he was considering extending his adventure at Manchester City, which he would ultimately have to do for another year, according to the New York Times.

In France, a few days after the umpteenth retirement of Jean-Louis Gasset (or Claudio Ranieri in Italy), it was Franck Haise who put the subject on the table. In an interview with The Teamthe OGC Nice coach looked back on his winter of 2023 in Lens, when he combined the roles of coach and general manager of the Artesian club, and when he thought about ending his career: “There were very few downtimes and I felt tired… I felt at one point that my energy was less. […] You are having more and more complicated nights, you feel that you have not recovered well and, when you get up in the morning, the energy you have is not what you usually have. Because the tank was half empty. […]The more the years go by, the more the external load, not just media, increases. It was better to train twenty years ago, after all. What will it be like in ten years? » Proof that the coaching load is not spared from this saturation.

“Much more depressive symptoms in this environment »

In his medical and legal study, commissioned by FIFPro, professor of occupational medicine Lode Godderis focuses on the players. “But our conclusions, apart from those on the physique of football players, who have an incidence and injury rate 1,000 times higher than more traditional professions, are also valid forr coaches », he specifies. Namely: the considerable impact of the overloaded schedule on mental health and workload in the world of professional football. « We observe many more depressive symptoms in this environment, where night work is not recognized, and without the right to disconnect.says the professor. The daily life of professional football is not only the matches and training sessions, but also all the media pressure, the impact on private life, the long trips… It's a huge load. »

Subject to the need for performance, coaches – like players – “who are workers, and who must be protected under labor law”recalls the professor, suffer concretely from the overload of the calendar, and put their health at stake. If individual initiatives exist, with mental trainers, personalized psychologists, or even the ayurvedic cures of Thomas Tuchel, Professor Godderis calls on the clubs and international bodies to act at the global level: “UEFA and FIFA must rethink the organization and the calendar. There is a lack of collective thinking to protect the physical and mental health of football players. » According to the study, presented in detail this Wednesday, the specific framework of football does not respect OHS (health and safety at work) standards. According to the report, the main problem remains the infernal pace of the matches, concludes the professor of occupational medicine, worried: “Our position is clear: we must review the calendar. » And therefore the system as a whole.

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