The football world mourns the loss of Diogo Jota, 28, and André Silva, 25. It puts one major issue with football into perspective: the lack of time players are given away from football. I am deeply saddened for their family and friends.

We think of players as assets, that are expendable and interchangeable, although with how online everyone’s lives are nowadays, we are closer to these players than ever before. We came to know Diogo Jota not just as a remarkable footballer but as a wonderful person and teammate. We learned about his beautiful family, his roots, and his passions beyond the pitch—his love of playing FIFA, the Football Manager save during the 2020 COVID quarantine where he took Telford United to the Premier League by 2029, and his creation of an eSports team called Luna Galaxy, among many other things that made him so special.

Normally when you hear of the passing of a player you focus on how great they were on the pitch, and the memories of the moments you had watching them. Diogo Jota was an incredibly memorable, clinical, exciting goalscorer and great teammate. He created many unforgettable moments. But I’m gravitating more towards focusing on the person he was. These are people who have a tremendous talent, but they are human like you and me.

Both him and his brother had a full life to lead after their careers.

My first thought was with his wife, Rute, who now, after just marrying two weeks ago, as high-school sweethearts, has to mourn the death of her husband and attempt to explain to their three young kids that their dad will no longer be with them. That is heartbreaking. And then my mind shifts to their parents, losing two sons. This is an unimaginable situation for anyone. My heart breaks for their friends and teammates, my prayers go out to them during this trying time.

But it angers me that these players don’t get enough time to get away from football. Diogo Jota, with his little brother, drove back to Liverpool for the start of preseason when this accident occurred. Had he not just had surgery on his lung, he would have likely flown by plane instead, but due to orders from his doctors he had to drive from Spain to cross the ferry and carry on by car into Britain. This is life, though; things happen for reasons we will never know.

Football is a passion but is a job that allows for no true breaks at this moment in time. It is a nonstop, 365-days-a-year, never-ending grind. Not only is the health of the players at risk; they don’t get enough time with their families, with their wife, or with their kids. It is past the point of inhumanity the way the football calendar is run by money-hungry corporations to have tournament after tournament, competition after competition, and match after match on repeat. A season that never ends.

You won the Premier League with Liverpool, a dream; the Nations League with Portugal, a dream; and married the love of your life of 13 years, a dream. All within the span of a few weeks. Then it all goes in one instant. Life is too short to not be able to have the right balance, to be able to enjoy life off the pitch to the fullest extent and still follow your passion on the pitch. We don’t have the right balance right now.

As Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate put it rightly in his beautiful letter to those two brothers, this can happen to any of us. We must take every opportunity to live life to the fullest, and the players deserve that right.

Rest in peace.