Eden Hazard fractured his ankle while training for pointless international friendlies with Belgium’s national team. Perhaps FIFA will consider allotting more than a few days off between club and country duty.
A Belgium training session accomplished what Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United could not: knock Eden Hazard out of commission. Hazard twisted his ankle in a non-contact incident at the end of a training session. A scan revealed that he fractured his ankle. He will have surgery to repair the injury, and could be out for three months.
While the immediate cause of the injury did not involve any contact, Hazard was surely vulnerable so soon after the season. Chelsea played Arsenal in the FA Cup final nine days ago. That gave Hazard less than a week to recover from a full season before reporting to the Belgian training centre. Despite this being the nominal summer break, Hazard had no more time to relax – let alone mend – than he did between matches throughout the season.
Eden Hazard injured his ankle in the last minutes of the Belgium training session today.
— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) June 4, 2017
For internationals, football has become a year-round endeavor. The dual demands of club and country create a relentless schedule that has no parallel in other team sports. Tennis has a similarly non-stop rhythm. But to tennis’ credit, the governing bodies are taking steps to build in downtime and recovery periods after a series of injuries and burnout among top players.
Football shows little signs of wanting to do the right thing (#evergreen). Domestic leagues will not want to compress their schedules because the increased density of matches will similarly contribute to injuries. For teams competing in the Champions League and Europa League – the teams with many internationals – midweek matches already litter the schedule.
Conversely, the international structure – from FIFA down to national team coaches – already feel like they have an impossibly constrictive schedule for training their squads. The summer is the only opportunity they have to work with their team for more than two weeks at a time.
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The popularity and profitability of club football has consigned international football to a distant second in the sport’s world. Players are still honoured to represent their country and aspire to play in the World Cup. Fans still rally toward their national teams. But for players and fans alike, league football drives the passion and consumption of the sport.
FIFA and the international structure resent this. They will not want to do anything that acknowledges this reality, let alone accelerates the trend. If there is possibly a silver lining, perhaps an injury to a player of Eden Hazard’s ability and stature will impel change in football’s governance and scheduling.
Eden Hazard’s injury is particularly lamentable because it happened while preparing for a friendly. Belgium play the Czech Republic tonight in a game that means absolutely nothing. For that, one of the most dextrous ankles in the world must undergo surgery.
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Chelsea have one of the Premier League’s top sports medicine departments, but they are not miracle workers. For everything they can do to keep Eden Hazard and the rest of the Blues healthy, at the end of the season these players need time off for nature to take its course.