'Too many games'

Real Madrid and Germany midfielder Toni Kroos thinks football can learn from American basketball (NBA) as the debate around the stress placed on footballers in the modern day continues.

In relation to a question on the injury situation at Borussia Dortmund in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Kroos was the critical of the current schedule and said modern players have to play "too many games and have too little vacation."

"I'm of the opinion that the burden is far too high, especially, for national team players who play international football (Champions League, etc) with their club teams," he said.

"So it's no coincidence that in the last two months, so many players have injured themselves. And we're not talking about strains, but serious injuries, like muscle tears.

"Of course, I'm not just saying, let's have more holidays."

A busy summer

After a long season with Bayern Munich, Kroos helped Germany win the World Cup in Brazil. But just four days later, Kroos was in Madrid to complete his move, officially, before making his club debut in the Super Cup in Cardiff less than four weeks later.

The 24-year-old midfielder, who admits he's slowly grappling with a change of culture since his move to Spain in the summer, has pointed to the NBA system across the Atlantic as one where football can learn from.

"The best example for me is the NBA, with a high intensity and then a longer break," he explained. "During the NBA basketball season, teams play every three days - that's a huge workload with some very long journeys."

"But from the end of May to October, that's a break. I think, in football, we need more time to regenerate.

"If things continue with the same number of games, we'll eventually have squads of 30, 35 players, so there's a reasonable workload for each.

"Only, who wants such a large squad? Nobody. I think it makes sense to rethink the schedule, which is clearly too full."