Maheta Molango Warns of ‘Survival of the Fittest’ in Football

Maheta Molango does not bother with warm‑up touches anymore. He goes straight for the tackle.

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

This is not a throwaway line. It is a warning.

For Molango, this summer’s expanded global showpiece is not a festival of football. It is the sharpest example yet of a sport that has driven its main attraction – the players – to the edge of exhaustion and is now daring them to break.

‘Survival of the fittest’ era

The evidence is everywhere. Across Europe’s top five leagues, workloads have ballooned to levels that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

According to Opta, 19 Premier League players who have already gone past 4,000 minutes in all competitions this season are heading into the World Cup. Eleven Premier League footballers sit in the top 20 across Europe for total minutes played.

Top of the pile: Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, with a staggering 4,761 minutes. His team‑mate Dominik Szoboszlai is fourth on 4,556. Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers is the highest‑placed English player, 11th overall, with 4,382 minutes.

Games are no longer decided simply by quality. Molango sees something more brutal at work.

“It cannot be the survival of the fittest,” he argues. “Now you see games which are not won by the best team, they are won by the fittest.

“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.”

The human cost is obvious to him. The commercial cost, he insists, is not far behind.

“There is a real risk to the player. And for those who don’t care about that, there’s a real risk to the product because people will pay thousands of pounds to watch people ‘walking’ at best.”

Players on the brink – and ready to push back

The calendar has been stretched, squeezed and stuffed. An expanded World Cup. An expanded Club World Cup. A revamped Champions League. The Conference League added to the mix. Domestic competitions trimmed only at the edges – FA Cup replays scrapped, but the League Cup retained.

FIFA and UEFA have been hammered for the relentless expansion. A Fifpro report on the 2024‑25 season, taking into account the new Club World Cup, condemned “unprecedentedly long and congested seasons” and called for minimum four‑week close‑season breaks and winter pauses. Those recommendations sit largely ignored.

On the ground, players are creaking. In September 2024, Manchester City midfielder Rodri said footballers were “close” to strike action after his own 63‑game season. Later that month he ruptured his ACL.

Molango recounts a conversation with one player that has stayed with him.

“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 frustration is turning into something more organised.

“Maybe the players need to self regulate,” Molango says. “That friendly you have organised, I’m not going to play it. 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.”

He points to Spain for a glimpse of what that collective power can do.

La Liga pushed hard to stage a league game in Miami. The commercial plan was drawn up, the machine rolled into motion. The players simply refused to go.

“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.”

Heat, hard pitches and ‘dangerous’ conditions

The problem is not only how often players are asked to perform, but where and in what conditions.

Molango attended the Premier League’s Summer Series in the United States and spoke to players involved in last year’s Club World Cup. The feedback was stark.

Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez described the temperatures as “incredible” and “dangerous”, admitting they left him “really dizzy”. Molango backs up those concerns.

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

His own experience in the US left a mark.

“I went to the Premier League summer series. I went to a game in Philadelphia at 3pm and with the temperatures, I couldn’t breathe. 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.”

The commercial drive to take football to new markets collides here with basic health and performance. For Molango, the line has already been crossed.

A union of superstars and journeymen

The PFA’s strength, Molango believes, lies in its unusual make‑up. This is a union where global superstars share a platform with League One and League Two professionals scratching for their next contract.

He sees no divide.

“You need to remember that most of them come from the football pyramid. 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 draws inspiration from the Lionesses’ mantra.

“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.”

Declan Rice and the 70‑game problem

Strip the debate down to one player and the absurdity becomes easier to see.

Declan Rice, Arsenal’s midfield heartbeat, is hurtling towards a 70‑game season for club and country. At 27, he has already logged 4,246 minutes in all competitions this campaign – 10th among Premier League players and second‑highest Englishman behind Villa’s Rogers.

If he turns up at the World Cup spent, Molango knows what the reaction will be.

“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.”

This, for him, is the core of the problem. The demand for more games, more money, bigger TV deals, all while pretending the players are infinitely renewable.

“We need to put the game back into the centre of the industry,” he says. “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 data, he insists, is clear.

“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. 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 those limits have been stretched. The question now is not whether players are being pushed too hard. It is how long they are prepared to accept it before the strongest link decides it has had enough.