Bellingham has already played 14,450 minutes before his 20th birthday. Beckham has only managed 845

Recently, there has been more and more talk about how the players are overloaded and that the number of games is unbearable. This is evidenced by statistics that measure minutes played at a certain age. Like for example in case of Jude Bellingham.

Comparisons of Bellingham and Beckham’s stats show an interesting phenomenon

The trade union FIFPro (International Federation of Professional Footballers), which represents 65,000 professional footballers worldwide, has produced a report (Saturation Calendar: Adverse effects on players’ health and well-being) on how this affected players’ workload last season. This report is intended to highlight the unprecedented demands that footballers have endured.

For example, Jude Bellingham has already played 14,450 minutes before his 20th birthday. Yet his English predecessors managed far fewer minutes before reaching their teens.

For example, David Beckham played only 845 minutes before turning 20, Steven Gerrard 2,853, Frank Lampard 3,477 and Michael Owen 9,187. Only Wayne Rooney comes close, he managed to play 10,989 minutes.

At 22, Vinicius has played 12,000 more minutes than Ronaldinho had at his age. The comparison goes to Spain too, Pedri has already played 20% more minutes than Xavi. And Kylian Mbappé, for example, has already played 37% more minutes than Thierry Henry did at his age.

Gavi three times more than Messi

It’s even more pronounced for Gavi. The young Spanish footballer may have been seriously injured recently, but at the age of 19 he has already played 148 games, accumulating 9,410 minutes.

Lionel Messi, for example, has played only 62 games and 3 426 minutes at his age. And Andres Iniesta, for example, only played 15 games and 980 minutes at that age.

On the one hand, this shows the great readiness of young players, but on the other hand, we have to think about the physical pressure they are exposed to. For example, Gavi’s knee could not withstand the strain and now he will have to rest for 9 months.

In addition, the number of matches in the Champions League will increase next season. Including all the qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup, the player could play up to 89 games. And that’s an extremely crazy number.

Source: AS Diario