Rafinha to travel 35,000 km in days for international friendlies
He will play in Townsville on 25 September, Brisbane on 29 September and then Kolkata — a journey of roughly 35,000 km.
Rafinha faces an extraordinary travel load: in the space of just a few days he is scheduled to cover roughly 35,000 km — a distance approaching the Earth's circumference of about 40,000 km, which Eratosthenes estimated some 2,000 years ago.
Club vs country — the recurring dilemma
The travel comes during an international break and highlights the familiar tension between club interests and national teams. While official competitive fixtures usually proceed with fewer complaints, friendly matches that require intercontinental flights place heavy physical and logistical demands on players based in Europe.
Rafinha's planned itinerary begins in Townsville, Australia, where he will take part in a match on 25 September. Four days later his team will play in Brisbane on 29 September, and the tour concludes with a final fixture in Kolkata, India.
Covering approximately 35,000 km in such a short span is grueling: it equals nearly the entire circumference of the planet and represents around one tenth of the distance from Earth to the Moon. That scale of travel raises questions about player fatigue and the cumulative burden placed on elite footballers.
For many clubs and supporters the clash between club schedules and national team call-ups is a perennial issue, and Rafinha's upcoming journey is the latest high-profile example of that problem.
Photo: press material from the event
