Man United’s Bruno Fernandes played most minutes in world football last year
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes played more minutes of football than any other elite player last year, new data shows.
World players’ union Fifpro said the Portugal international played 6,666 minutes between 15 September 2022 and 15 September 2023.
The body analysed data on 1,800 players to illustrate the physical and mental demands top players face.
It is campaigning for changes to the football calendar to protect players.
The latest results from its Player Workload Monitoring tool show 29-year-old Fernandes played in 72 games over the period for club and country.
Four Manchester City players are in the top 10 for appearances made in a season in which they clinched the Treble, winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
The quartet are Spain midfielder Rodri (68 games), Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva (67), Swiss defender Manuel Akanji (66) and Argentina forward Julian Alvarez (66) – who also reached the 2022 World Cup final with his country in Qatar.
The tracking tool, put together with data company Football Benchmark, monitors the workloads of 1,800 elite footballers around the world – 1,500 men and 300 women.
Real Madrid and Brazil forward Rodrygo played the most back-to-back matches (54).
