(Football news) The World Cup 2022 hosted in Qatar will be a unique one, especially considering that while the tournament is traditionally held during the summer break once the season ends, this particular World Cup will be held in the middle of the domestic season. The question on everybody’s mind is how will the football world incorporate the biggest football tournament in the world right in the middle of the domestic league campaigns? How will it affect the fitness and fatigue of the players and how viable of an option is it to begin with?
The Premier League is expected to break next season after the weekend of November 12th before resuming fixtures on Boxing Day. This means that players will just have one week to prepare in their national team camps before participating in the World Cup and only eight days to recover if they reach the finals on December 18th. Keeping this in mind, the Premier League has decided to start a week earlier than usual, which means next season will begin on Saturday, August 6th and finish later than usual, with the league campaign concluding in late May while the FA Cup has been shifted to June.
In a scheduled meeting by executives of all 20 Premier League clubs, a number of issues were discussed including the programme for the 2022/2023 season and the COVID-19 protocols including the need for Covid passports. Christian Purslow, Aston Villa’s Chief Executive described the prospect of a winter World Cup as “crazy”. In an interview, Purslow said "Next season when we play in an equally crazy idea, which is a winter World Cup, we won't see any Premier League football at the peak of our season between November and December, which is something that people are going to have to get used to.
"These are decisions that were taken a long time ago. They bite, quite soon. Next season, we'll all see that. I always have concerns about player welfare but I have more concerns for our fans missing Premier League football in the winter for five weeks, which is our great national tradition and our great national heritage."
In addition, the 2021/2022 EFL season is also expected to begin earlier than usual and will begin in July to accommodate the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The matches will now begin on the weekend of 30th and 31st July and will pause after the weekend of November 12th and 13th. However, the EFL will resume soon after the group stage ends but no date has been finalized yet. As per the current plan, no extension would be required for the EFL to conclude their campaign with the finals expected to be played on the bank holiday weekend at the end of May. League One and League Two are expected to continue their seasons as usual.
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