Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) boss Brendan Schwab says a schedule which has A-League grand final hosts Melbourne Victory leaving the country within hours of the decider is unacceptable.

Schwab said the combination of big matches a few days apart, interspersed with a long haul flight, was a recipe for bad injuries and a poorer quality of football.

The Victory meets Kawasaki Frontale in an Asian Champions League (ACL) clash in Japan on Tuesday.

They will head to Melbourne airport straight from Etihad Stadium after Saturday night’s grand final against Sydney FC, to fly out in the early hours of Sunday.

“It’s unacceptable, the fact is that players are being asked to travel on nine to 15-hour flights and play games with a 48-hour break,” Schwab said of the A-League and ACL clashes.

“It’s inevitable that a player will be seriously injured in those circumstances and it’s also inevitable that the quality of the competition will be compromised.”

Schwab said the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) needed to be more flexible in matches involving Australian teams playing against those from east Asia, given the distances involved.

“With long haul flights and a 48-hour break between games, the science says that’s placing players in a dangerous situation,” he said.

He said it was even harder for club teams such as the Victory than the Socceroos to cope with such turnarounds, because the national team had the resources to provide better on-flight facilities and more staff.

Victory captain Kevin Muscat said it was unrealistic to expect Melbourne, who have already lost their first two ACL matches, to be at their best in Japan.

“Realistically what do we expect? Do we expect Melbourne Victory, after the (grand final) result goes either way, to jump on a plane, get to Japan, play against a good side, what are we expecting?” Muscat said

“If we do get a result, will we be anywhere near our maximum, anywhere near our full capabilities? I’d suggest we’re not going to be, that’s just a reality.”

Muscat said it was a “no-brainer” that the game should have been scheduled on a Wednesday rather than Tuesday, but the Victory had to go flat out in the grand final and deal with the ramifications later.

“You can’t hold anything back, there’s only one game that’s important at the moment and that’s Saturday night,” he said.

Veteran midfielder Tom Pondeljak, hoping to return from a hamstring injury on Saturday night, said there was “a very big question mark” on whether he could also play in Japan.

© AAP 2012

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