Barcelona defender Jules Kounde recently stated that he would lie if he said he loves football as much as before. And it’s not difficult for us to understand him, especially not after learning that the Barcelona right-back is the player with the most minutes played in 2024 worldwide!The French defender could easily become a representative of football players in the war against FIFA and UEFA due to the schedule getting tighter every season, wleadingto a significant increase in the number of injuries among players.##NAJAVA_MECA_8580146####EDITORS_CHOICE##According to a study conducted in 66 leagues around the world by CIES, the International Centre for Sports Studies, Kounde spent the most minutes on the field in the year at the end. Until December 15, the Frenchman played 69 games for both the national team and the club and accumulated 5,872 minutes, and that figure will certainly increase on the weekend when Barcelona face Atletico Madrid in the last game of 2024.Most official senior game minutes, outfield players in 2⃣0⃣2⃣4⃣ calendar year 🦾🥇 #JulesKounde 🇫🇷 & #FCBarcelona🥈 #JhonArias 🇨🇴 & #Fluminense🥉 #FedeValverde 🇺🇾 & #RealMadrid#vanDijk 🇳🇱 #Otamendi 🇦🇷 #Xhaka 🇨🇭 #Hancko 🇸🇰 #Torres 🇪🇨 #Rodon 🏴 #Saliba 🇫🇷Top 2⃣0⃣s per league… pic.twitter.com/FF38kAaRyM— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) December 18, 2024 The runners-up place belonged to Fluminense player Jhon Arias, who accumulated 5,599 minutes in 67 games, but after last night he was leapfrogged by Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde, since he played his 67th match of the calendar year against Pachuca and thus reached 5,663 minutes. They are followed by Virgil van Dijk with 5,523 (64 games), Nicolas Otamendi with 5,449 (65 games), Granit Xhaka with 5,447 (65 games), and in the top ten there are also David Hancko (Feyenoord), Felix Torres (Corinthians), Joe Rodon (Leeds) and William Saliba (Arsenal).However, they are all far behind Kounde. Therefore, it should not be surprising that he supported Rodri when the Manchester City midfielder threatened to go on strike.
