Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has hit out at FIFA's scheduling of international games, claiming: "The person who drew up the fixture list understands nothing about football."
Belgium international Courtois has made 16 appearances for club and country already this season even though Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has left him out of EFL Cup ties.
With Belgium reaching the quarterfinals of Euro 2016, Courtois was playing competitive football into July, leaving little room for a break before preseason training.
He featured in Belgium's 8-1 qualifying win over Estonia on Sunday but made way for Simon Mignolet in last week's friendly against Netherlands, a match he felt should not have been played.
"I don't understand why we haven't played two qualifiers this week. We play in November, we'll play our next game in March and have to again play in June [the final round of World Cup qualifiers for this season]," Courtois told La Derniere Heure.
"Because of that, we're going to lose three weeks of holiday.
"The person who drew up the fixture list understands nothing about football. We play seasons with more than 60 games, and recovery enables us to avoid injuries."