A new Premier League season is just around the corner, yet the 2022/23 campaign will not progress as usual due to the upcoming 2022 World Cup.
Logistical complications induced by the Qatar showpiece coming up down the final stretch of the calendar year have forced the Premier League officials to make noticeable changes to the 2022/23 fixture schedule.
Unlike the 2021/22 season that kickstarted on August 13, the forthcoming championship will get underway a week earlier, with Arsenal heading to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace on August 5.
While the Premier League took five breaks to accommodate international football last season, clubs in England’s top flight will go dormant on ‘only’ three separate occasions in 2022/23.
But in a way never seen so far.
Let’s take a look at the three international breaks scheduled for the 2022/23 Premier League season.
When are the 2022/23 international breaks?
- September 19-27, 2022 – UEFA Nations League
- November/December 2022 – 2022 FIFA World Cup
- March 20–28, 2023 – Euro 2024 Qualifiers
UEFA Nations League Break – September 19-27
With the first international break in the new season falling on September 19, Premier League clubs will have a hectic start to the campaign, involving five matchdays in August and another three in September.
September’s international window is programmed to allow the European national teams to complete the ongoing 2022/23 UEFA Nations League.
Upon the conclusion of the Nations League group stages in the final days of September, Premier League action will resume in early October.
From there, another eight matchdays will take place between October 1 and November 12, making it a total of 16 game weeks in the first half of the 2022/23 Premier League season.
2022 FIFA World Cup – November-December
High temperatures and unbearable weather conditions in the Middle Eastern region granted Qatar special permission to move the tournament dates to the winter.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, with the Qatar World Cup set to trigger the longest-ever international break starting on November 12 and running until December 26.
With FIFA requiring all domestic clubs to release their players for the World Cup by November 14, England’s elite competition will take a back seat for six weeks to allow the completion of the Qatar World Cup.
Unlike all other Europe’s top-five leagues, the Premier League will get back to the big screens on Boxing Day to allow the most exciting part of the seasonal fixture schedule to go on as usual.
From Boxing Day onwards, the remaining 21 Premier League matchdays will take place until the final day of the season, which falls on the weekend of May 28, 2023.
But there will be one usual stop in the process.
March 20–28, 2023
Things will get back to normal in 2023, with the weekend commencing March 20, 2023, when we will most likely witness the Euro 2024 qualifying matches.
An eight-day break will mark the final infringement in the 2022/23 Premier League season, permitting the closing ten games of the campaign to be staged as usual.
