With the Premier League fixture list for the 2022/23 season set to be released on Thursday morning, a big change is set to be implemented regarding the infamously hectic festive football period.
This year, for the first time in history, the FIFA World Cup will controversially take place in the winter. The tournament in Qatar will run from late November to mid-December in order to avoid the searing summer temperatures of the Middle East. As a result, many of Europe’s top divisions will be put on hold for the duration of the competition. In England, the Premier League will be halted for around six weeks, with the Championship set to follow suit albeit for a shorter period. League One and Two are expected to continue as normal.
Upon conclusion of their national team duties on the world stage, players are expected to return to club action almost straight away. Consequently, as per The Telegraph, the Premier League has moved to scrap all fixtures between boxing day and New Year’s Eve in order to ease fears over athlete burnout. This means there will be no matchday on the 28th December and instead only three rounds of league matches will be contested across the holidays; the 26th and 31st December, and the 2nd January.
Jurgen Klopp has been consistent in his criticisms of the English football calendar throughout his years on Merseyside, regularly questioning the scheduling of Liverpool games and the negative impact a lack of recovery has on his player’s welfare. Most recently he hit out at his side’s tie with Southampton falling just three days after a 120 minute FA Cup Final clash with Chelsea, claiming he ”won’t stop whining” in his press conference.
Last year Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson revealed his own concerns towards fixture congestion in the winter period, as the Reds were still chasing four separate trophies over Christmas and New Year. The Champions League winning skipper told the BBC –
”Football to us is everything and we want to be able to perform at the highest level every time we set foot on the pitch. And unfortunately, in this period it is difficult to do that.
That has been like this for a few years now and it has been difficult but then, on top of that, you chuck in Covid and it becomes even harder and even worse.
I am concerned that nobody really takes player welfare seriously.”
The revised winter break for the upcoming season is likely to prove a necessity rather than a luxury. Clubs will harbour concerns over players returning from the World Cup with injuries and fatigue, especially those contesting European football in January, and will see the recovery window as vital for maintaining performance levels.
Jurgen Klopp has not been alone in his protests, with Premier League managers such as Thomas Tuchel and Pep Guardiola echoing his arguments season after season, and all will be pleased with this latest revelation.
However, the question going forward will likely be one of why action has been taken to accommodate FIFA at the first time of asking, when issues have been getting highlighted for some time, and whether these types of change are here to stay.
The reported rearrangement of the fixtures in question is a step in the right direction toward easing the unprecedented disruption domestic football will face this year, but how/if it will affect the game going forward remains to be seen.