November 12 – In an enforced first for English football, the Premier League will pause in mid-November next season and resume on Boxing Day six weeks later in order to accommodate the first ever winter World Cup.
The season will start on August 6 and stop after the 16th round of matches on November 12-13 for the tournament in Qatar, which is due to kick off on November 21. The league will then resume eight days after the December 18 World Cup final with a round of Boxing Day fixtures.
Meanwhile, Premier League clubs have expressed their unanimous opposition to FIFA’s biennial World Cup plans even though they were recently watered down by Gianni Infantino.
Representatives from the 20 top-flight clubs gathered in London on Thursday following which chief executive Richard Masters issued the following statement:
“The Premier League is committed to preventing any radical changes to the post-2024 FIFA international match calendar that would adversely affect player welfare and threaten the competitiveness, calendar, structures and traditions of domestic football.
“We are open to reforms and new ideas, but they must enhance the complementary balance between domestic and international football in order to improve the game at all levels. This process should also involve meaningful agreements with the leagues that provide the foundations for the game. We will continue to work with supporter groups, players, domestic and international stakeholders to find solutions that are in the best interests of football’s long-term future.”
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