Rangers players are no more immune from the changing world of domestic, European and international football than any others.
The Ibrox side have heady ambitions to go all the way to May in every competition they play, whilst the club’s routine appearances in European qualifiers adds a special early-season burden.
Playing at the elite level looks very different today than what it did even 20 years ago and the expectations placed on professional athletes are at an all-time high.
FIFPRO, the organisation that represents players’ rights, have just released a new report into the workloads of footballers and one stuttering Rangers star has been named in a high-risk category.
FIFPRO: Rangers star 5th most travelled footballer
Between club and international responsibilities, players are now more than ever being expected to play more games, travel greater distances and yet, still perform at the highest level.
The 2023/24 Player Workload Monitoring (PWM) Report has looked at those players who have been overused between travel miles and match day squads in a damning insight into the direction of travel in the global game.
South American footballers are most at risk given the large travel times between the region and Europe, which continues to be the elite level of the game.
Players from the far East are also unfairly affected as a result of the ever-expanding nature of club and international competitions, and several have been outspoken about the increasing burden on footballers.
In a telling statistic, new Atlético Madrid striker Julian Alvarez is the most overworked player in the game, with the ex-Manchester City hitman playing in a quite remarkable 75 games between the Premier League champions and World Cup winners Argentina.
One of the metrics used to measure the intensity put on players includes international travel time, and Rangers fans will be surprised to see Jose Cifuentes included on that list.
As per the report’s findings (p. 16), Jose Cifuentes logged a quite remarkable 189 hours of international travel time between his time playing at Rangers, Cruzeiro and with the Ecuador national team.
Making 32 trips in total, Cifuentes is the 5th most travelled player in football in terms of hours but only Argentine World Cup winners Julian Alvarez (39) and Emiliano Martinez (37) made more trips last season.
Insight into Jose Cifuentes’s issues at Rangers
With expansion of the European club football competitions and the increased competitiveness of international football through the UEFA Nations League, the demands continue to grow.
This season will see teams at the elite level play even more matches with the FIFPRO PWM report finding that footballers’ rights as workers are under threat and in some instances not being applied.
The situation highlights the need for greater care for footballers, who will continue to break down with longer term and more serious injuries, or have shorter careers, as a result of increased demands.
At the same time, football is – more than ever – truly a squad game.
From a Rangers point of view, the findings around Jose Cifuentes shines a light on his situation at Ibrox.
Signed late on from LAFC in the window last summer, there were high hopes that Cifuentes could make a lasting impact in the middle of the Ibrox pitch.
But amidst the furore of Michael Beale’s squad revamp and the culture/weather shock coming to Scotland, the 25-year-old Ecuadorean struggled to settle.
Had the demands on Jose been less, perhaps it would’ve afforded him more time to get used to his surroundings but the hectic nature of his playing career is laid bare by these statistics.
Having spent the second half of last season on loan at Brazilian side Cruzeiro, the findings suggest the travel also had an impact on his poor form in Belo Horizonte.
Now on loan with Aris Thessaloniki, we sincerely hope that Jose Cifuentes manages to settle in Greece and finds some consistency with his living situation alongside the demands of his international career.
Things have started well with Cifuentes being nominated for Player of the Month after his first few games.
It’s a reminder that these guys are only human and that football as a whole has a greater responsibility to help players not only achieve but maintain their dream of entertaining every single one of us.
