Don’t Worry France, It’s Not Your Fault (Blame These Guys)

france-players-dejected

As the post mortem begins for France after their 0-1 extra-time defeat to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final, it’s worth pointing out that France started the game at a serious disadvantage.

Most people assume that professional footballers, with their physios and masseurs, always arrive at a final in good condition to give their best performance.

Somebody said to me on Twitter that because France had benefited from more rest days earlier on in the tournament, they couldn’t use as an excuse the fact that they had only had 2 rest days compared to Portugal’s 3.

But this isn’t how the human body works:

Not convinced?

A study published in 2012 analysed the results of 27,000 league, Champions League and Europa League games across England, Holland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

The conclusion was that a team playing with only 2 rest days against a team with 3 rest days is 40% less likely to win.

And it went further. The data shows that after only 2 recovery days, 70% less goals are scored and 75% more are conceded between 60 and 90 minutes.

Because I had read the study, I was able to predict that Portugal had a great chance of beating France.

 

Want to read the study? It’s called the ‘World Football Academy Study on Recovery Days’.

Want to do something about this?

I want football’s governing bodies to digest the science and make 3 rest days between games mandatory in all competitions. I want to see Manchester City play Bayern Munich away in the Champions League and have a fair chance of winning. I want to see fewer injuries and the highest quality of football possible.

If you do too, then please hit the retweet button and let UEFA know. The rest will follow.