The health of top Premier League stars like Tottenham Hotspur's Heung-Min Son is at risk according to a global players' union.

Fifpro, who represent 65,000 professional footballers, believes that players are struggling with the increasingly crowded international calendar that gives them no chance to recover from matches and travel.

They have published a 40-page report 'At The Limit' which calls from a 'mandatory off-season break of four weeks'.

The union wants players to have five-day breaks between matches, extra recovery time after long international flights and a two-week winter break.

It claims that elite non-European players, such as Son, are travelling too much without adequate rest when they leave for international duty.

"The international match calendar has become denser. The game is faster, more physical and more global than ever," says the report.

"Although the demands on players are increasing, their physical and psychological capacity has natural limits."

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They surveyed 543 elite players with many travelling thousands of miles with Son the leading example in the report.

The Tottenham and South Korea star helped his club reach the Champions League final and his country win gold at the Asian Games last season.

In total, he played 78 games with 53 of them for Tottenham. 72 per cent of those were played on less than five days rest.

He flew 110,600 kilometres for matches with South Korea and for six Champions League games with Spurs.

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"Global elite players are faced with match overload which threatens not only their sporting performance but also their health and sustainable career," added the report.

"There are a limited number of elite athletes whose talents light up our sport. Their careers are short, intense and fragile."

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Fifpro general secretary Theo van Seggelen said: "To meet the demands of the match calendar players are being repeatedly asked to play at their limit without sufficient rest and recovery.

"This means that they cannot perform at their best and, worse still, that some are struggling with sustained periods of mental and physical strain.

"Scientific research confirms that the health of top players is at risk because of today's congested match schedule."