Calendar demands could force Premier League to make change

Expectations for the 2023-24 Premier League season, which kicks off this weekend, are at an all-time high.

It seems just like yesterday when Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City won their third consecutive Premier League championship. Although City narrowly defeated Arsenal, Mikel Arteta’s side is ready to provide another formidable challenge. The same goes for the other top clubs in England after a hectic transfer window.

The 2022/23 season was different with its setup, though. The 2022 World Cup happened in the middle of the campaign. As a result, there were two portions of the season on either side of the competition. Midway through November until Boxing Day, the English top division paused play so that it could accommodate the Qatar tournament.

Even though there isn’t a midseason tournament to worry about this year, games in England will still be lengthier than usual due to the new regulations for overtime.

Tournament format already causing trouble

There is already too much going on in the calendar for the Premier League to take a break in the middle of the season. As a result, they could be forced to eliminate its mid-season break.

The new rule may start as early as the next season. It comes after the larger-scale World Cup and FIFA’s redesigned 32-team Club World Cup scheduled for the summer of 2025.

Winter break in Premier League scrapped

The Premier League winter break started in 2018 to reduce player fatigue, and this year it will take the shape of a scheduled two-week interval in January. The COVID-19 pandemic and the most recent World Cup meant the winter break did not happen. Now, with the schedule returning to normal, the winter break is back in the Premier League.

However, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has admitted that the break is now being reevaluated due to the possibility that it could prove to be infeasible.

“It is one of the things we are discussing with the FA and EFL. We want the Premier League, the big cup competitions and the EFL to flourish and that requires an adjustment,” he said, via Independent.

“It is the last season where it’s recognizable under the current international match calendar, where the Premier League starts on a particular weekend and the FA Cup final has its own weekend and you have the Champions League after that and a mid-season player break in the middle.

“A lot will have to change because of the additional European dates. We are also very much aware of the changes to FIFA’s competitions. The World Cup is getting bigger, an additional group-stage game is going to be added. Inevitably that’s going to take up more calendar space.

“You obviously have the views of the players’ union and the players being expressed very strongly now. From a league’s perspective, the European Leagues and World Leagues Forum are very clear on this, there has to be a forum for domestic competitions to be able to discuss the impact of regional and global decisions on the calendar. There’s lots of dialogue with UEFA, very little dialogue with FIFA.”

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