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'We all want our biggest tournaments to showcase our best players,’ he told Mail Sport. ‘That means we need to start listening when players start opting out of international football due to the pressures of the workload they are facing. We think that’s a real risk'

Molango also called for more clarity around the fixture list. ‘It’s important that we wait to see the detail, but we have to get to a situation where there is far greater co-ordination around the organisation of the global fixture calendar,’ he said.

‘We can’t keep treating tournaments and competitions in isolation. There is always a knock-on impact.’

Molango has spent time with Manchester United defender Raphael Varane – who retired from international football at the age of 29 earlier this year after playing in the final for France in Qatar. And he questioned a return to a winter event.

‘The men’s World Cup in Qatar was played in the European winter, but this was understood to be an exceptional circumstance,’ he said. ‘If that now isn’t going to be the case, we need to have a proper understanding of what that means for the scheduling of the wider calendar and, crucially, the impact on players in terms of injuries and fitness.

‘We’re not far enough removed from Qatar yet to assess that, but we know there is concern among players that they simply never get a break. Lengthening seasons to accommodate tournament scheduling obviously isn’t going to help.’