I've noticed that after every national team gathering, players come back to their clubs with some kind of problems. Could it be from overload during the matches? Or is it just a coincidence?
It's definitely not a coincidence, and here's why overload alone is only half the problem! The real issue is different: players come back under-recovered because there's just no proper recovery time between national team matches. They're playing day after day or every other day, flying between countries, changing time zones, sleeping in hotels - their bodies are stressed out. And when a player goes to the national team at 70% of their maximum potential, the club thinks the guy came back fresh, but that's not how it works!
On top of that there's also muscle confusion: the national team plays a different tactical formation, different partner in a pairing, different pressing rhythm. The muscles adapted to one movement pattern, and then suddenly they have to switch back. The non-contact injuries especially suffer: sprains, micro-tears. The previous answers here are right, but I'll add some practical stuff: look at what clubs started doing in recent years - they send players to the national team with an individual recovery plan for the gathering period (blood pressure, tests, ECG right there), and they completely ban full-contact training for the first two days after they get back! Not matches, I mean training - so the muscles remember their usual patterns instead of jumping straight into combat mode.
I don't think it's a coincidence - there are actually several factors at play here. After international breaks, players often come back with accumulated fatigue: they play intense matches for their national teams, sometimes with flights across continents and a different training regime than they have at their clubs, and then they're immediately thrown into a demanding club schedule without proper recovery. Plus, national teams usually don't have time for a full team warm-up - everyone prepares on their own, and that increases the risk of injuries when the body's already under stress.
The main issue is that after international breaks, the workload and style of play change. A player spends two weeks playing in a different tactical setup, with a different rhythm - often more aggressive - and then he returns to his club, where everything is built differently. His body doesn't have time to readapt, his muscles work at an unfamiliar angle, and his ligaments experience unusual stress.
Add to that the difference in recovery. With national teams, especially before qualifying tournaments, players work at maximum intensity - the coach needs results right now, not in a month. At the club, there's a chance to manage the workload, to space out training cycles. After the international window, a player comes back already with a recovery deficit, and the first match for his club might be that final straw.
Yeah, there's a coincidence, but it's a logical one. Injuries often don't appear during the international period itself, but in the first few days after returning - precisely when the body isn't ready for such a sharp change in conditions.
I'll add another point that often gets overlooked - it's the difference in conditions. A player flies to their national team, maybe to a different part of the world, the climate changes, time zones, field quality, even the food. The body doesn't have time to adapt, then he quickly flies back to his club where everything's different again. It's not just fatigue, it's stress for the whole body, and injuries often come exactly when the immune system and muscles are working in constant rebuild mode.
Plus the medical staff at the national team and the club work differently - different recovery protocols, different warm-up approaches. A player at the national team might get a micro-injury that just goes unnoticed there or gets downplayed, because the doctors are focused on getting him through the tournament. Then he comes back to his club where the load suddenly changes, and that old micro-injury suddenly becomes a serious problem.
Basically, it's not just about the number of matches, but the fact that the body ends up in constant "shock" mode - new conditions, new game system, new doctors, new routine. That's why after international breaks injuries hit in waves.
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