Arsenal icon Thierry Henry has explained why he walked out of the Club World Cup final at half-time during a passionate rant on CBS Sports Golazo. The Frenchman sat down with Kate Scott, Micah Richards, and Jamie Carragher as the much-loved punditry quartet dissected the results and performances from Wednesday night’s Champions League fixtures.
Talking points included Manchester City’s late drama that cost them all three points in a 2-2 draw with Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain’s statement 2-1 victory at Barcelona, and Rasmus Hojlund’s resurgence at Napoli, earning praise from the Italian media following his two goals in a 2-1 win over Sporting.
CBS Sports Golazo is not often known for its seriousness. While Henry frequently delivers masterclasses on forward play, the American broadcaster is better loved for its comedic take on the beautiful game. On Wednesday, however, the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker decided to take a more solemn approach, using the Club World Cup as an example to slam the current state of football.
The main point Henry was making was that football is getting too much. There is never any break from sports, and he explained his frustrations in a segment about why he left the Club World Cup final early as Chelsea claimed a dominant victory over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain. He said (watch the full segment below):
“As a fan, I’m tired. I didn’t watch the Club World Cup, I had to do something in the final, I left at half-time. It’s too much. I love my family, and at some points I need a break [from football].
“I mean, I like football, but who watched it? Too much is too much. How deep is your pocket now? To go to the Nations League, to go to the Champions League, to go to the two cups you have in England, and to buy a shirt.”
A striking statistic that highlights the rise in games played by professional footballers is that elite men’s players now spend 70-80 per cent of their playing time in a two-game-a-week rhythm, a significant increase from previous seasons.
A FIFPRO report found that top national-team players logged 67 per cent of their minutes in back-to-back matches (with less than five days’ recovery) during the 2020–21 season, compared to just 61 per cent in the two preceding years. With football’s governing bodies constantly adding new competitions to the calendar, this trend shows no sign of slowing.
Henry suggested that the root of the problem lies in the lack of ex-professional footballers in executive positions. Businessmen, he implied, often fail to consider the toll their decisions take on the players competing week in, week out, and the power for change lies in the players themselves, with some of them in the past – such as Rodri – having not ruled out taking action.
