Qatar World Cup 2022: Premier League to have break of more than six weeks in 2022-23 season

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Hugo Lloris, Tottenham goalkeeper, and Paul Pogba, Manchester United midfielder, helped France win 2018's World Cup.

To accommodate the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the Premier League will take a six-week break in mid-season 2022-23.

It was announced that the next campaign would end after the weekend of 12/13 November, before fixtures resumed on 26 Dec.

The season will begin one week earlier than usual on 6 August, and end one week later on 28 April.

Therefore, the Champions League and FA Cup finals are pushed to June.

After clubs were shown an outline calendar in September at a shareholders meeting, the Premier League dates were confirmed.

The 2022 World Cup will be held from 21 November to 18 Dec. and Fifa, the global governing body, has already stated that players must be released by 14 November.

This would have eliminated seven rounds of Premier League matches and the final two Champions League group stage matches from this season’s calendar.

Uefa plans to finish the group stage of next season’s competition before the World Cup. This will cause more fixture congestion. It would be similar in format to the one that was held last year, which began late due to the shutdown of 2019-20.

Because temperatures can soar to 50C during the summer, the Qatar World Cup will be held in November and December.

Clubs opposing a World Cup every 2 years

Fifa's proposal to hold biennial World Cups is opposed by all 20 Premier League clubs.

Arsene Younger, former Arsenal manager and chief of global football development for Fifa, made the proposals.

Clubs have expressed concern about the impact the plans could have on player welfare, fan experience, and quality of competitions.

Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, stated that the Premier League was committed to preventing any radical change to the post-2024 Fifa International Match Calendar that would adversely impact player welfare and threaten domestic football's competitiveness, structure, traditions, and calendar.

"We are open to reforms and new suggestions, but they must improve the complementarity between domestic and international soccer to improve the game at every level.

"We will continue working with players, supporter groups, and other stakeholders to find solutions that best serve the long-term interests of football."

Conmebol, the governing body of South American football, has already stated that its 10 members (including Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay) will not participate in a biennial World Cup.