According to announcements earlier this week, Chelsea have recorded a significant increase, up to 44%, in the number of injuries after participating in the FIFA Club World Cup in the expanded version this year.
However, the latest edition of the Men's European Football Injury Index shows that this expansion tournament has so far only had a "minimum impact" on the overall injury rate of European football.
FIFA's decision in 2023 to expand the top club tournament from 7 to 32 teams has faced strong opposition. The player federations expressed concern about the risk of physical and mental exhaustion, in the context of an increasingly dense match schedule.
Despite those warnings, FIFA will still host tournaments in the US in June and July. Chelsea won the championship, received the trophy from US President Donald Trump at MetLife Stadium, and earned about 125 million USD in prize money.
However, according to the Men's European Football Injury Index, Chelsea recorded 23 injuries between June and October - the most of any of the nine clubs in Europe's top leagues.
This figure, including the case of star Cole Palmer, is equivalent to an increase of 44% over the same period last year.
While The Blues have played a total of 64 matches in the 2024-2025 season, seeing an increase in injuries, a report compiled by global insurance giant Howden shows that the total number of injuries at Europe's top clubs is generally on the decline.
"In principle, it can be predicted that increased competition volume will lead to more injuries, as well as the risk of more serious injuries" - the report stated, before concluding that: "Current data show a minimal impact on the total number of injuries".
The nine teams from Germany and France - recorded a total of 146 injuries in the June-October period, down from 174 in the same period last year.
Notably, the August-October period alone recorded only 121 injuries, the lowest level in the three-month period of the six-year period measured by the Men's European Football Injury Index.
However, Manchester City is the team that is most affected in terms of personnel, with 22 injuries since the tournament, the highest number of participating teams.
However, the authors of the Men's European Football Injury Index report admit that it is too early to make a comprehensive assessment of the impact of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, as the data is currently only available for statistics until October.
James Burrows - Head of Sports Department of Howden Group - commented: "We predict that the impact will increase significantly in the period from November to February. Previous experience shows that the influence of summer tournaments often begins to appear clearly during this period".
