FIFPRO - Football Benchmark

The cutting-edge platform addresses the growing need for aggregated player workload data by delivering information about the playing time, travel and recovery periods of a sample of male and female footballers. The open, digital platform is aimed at helping football industry stakeholders make informed decisions in designing the next generation of national and international competitions so that they are sustainable, integrated, and benefit footballers and the game as a whole.

Since 2019, Football Benchmark has been supporting FIFPRO in the development of several workload related thought leadership reports for both men's and women's football. These studies are largely based on the wealth of data housed in the PWM platform.

What can you find inside the PWM platform?

The FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) platform, operated in collaboration with Football Benchmark, was initially established in early-2021 and has gradually evolved over recent years. It tracks workload metrics including the match load, distance travelled, and rest and recovery, of professional players from across the world.

There are two separate versions of the PWM tool: one for men's football and one for women's football. The former tracks the workload of 1,500 players worldwide, while the latter currently focuses on a 300-player sample in women's professional football.

Open PWM platforms

Prepared in cooperation with Football Benchmark, the 2023/24 Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) report of FIFPRO highlights the burden on players involved in multiple international tournaments that endangers their welfare, performance and career prospects.

Some players are seeing their time off fall to as little as 12% of the calendar year, the equivalent of less than one full day off per week, contravening international Occupational Safety and Health standards, amid a lack of appreciation by competition organizers of their welfare and an absence of coordinated calendar planning.

The report also highlights that an increasing number of players are impacted by extreme match calendar demands and that competition growth is a major risk factor for them. Match load, travel load and other workload statistics are analysed for players representing over 100 leagues and over 130 different nationalities.

Download the report here or click on the image below.

FIFA World Cup 2022: Post-Tournament Review & Player Survey - 3/10/23

2023 Men's Annual Report: Extreme Calendar Congestion: The adverse effects on player health & wellbeing - 1/3/23

FIFA World Cup 2022: The Player Workload Journey - 10/12/22

FIFPRO report: A Calendar that Respects Players’ Health - 5/30/22

FIFPRO Annual Workload Report: Men's Football - 10/10/21

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The growth of women’s football competitions is bringing increased recognition and professionalisation in parts of the world, but piling excessive pressure on some players, and failing to address wider issues like uneven games and underload, according to the latest annual women's football workload report.

The study discussess the disproportionate development of the game, with new or expanded competitions announced in a few countries, notably in Europe and North America, and little or no development elsewhere. This uneven growth creates an imbalance in the number of games for professional women footballers, with some over-stretched by too many matches, but the majority having too few.

In addition, the report also includes a detailed assessment of competitive balance metrics in top women's leagues, an analysis of all 2024 Olympic Games squads and a match and travel load overview of the 2023/24 season.

Download the report here or click on the image below.