Football:English Premiership will stop for six weeks during 2022 World Cup-Report
FIFA President Gianni Infantino
By Our Sports Desk
FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, and broke from tradition of a summer tournament on account of the high temperatures in the region during the summer months. The 2022 World Cup will run from 21 November to 18 December, with the Premier League then set to resume a week after the final is played.
The Premier League will break for six weeks to incorporate the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and will resume on Boxing Day.
FIFA has decided to break from the tradition of a summer tournament on account of the high temperatures in the region during the summer months.
Conditions are more favourable in the winter months, and the 2022 World Cup will get underway on November 21.
The World Cup will be in the middle of the season for most European competitions, and Sky Sports News say the Premier League will break on November 12 – giving players nine days of preparation time.
Should England make it all the way to the final in Qatar, which is slated to take place on December 18 – players will only have eight days of recovery before the Premier League gets back underway on December 26.
According to Sky Sports “executives of all 20 Premier League clubs were in London on Wednesday for a scheduled meeting, and the programme for 2022/23 was decided in discussions that lasted approximately four hours and also included a number of other issues.”
Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow has labelled the winter World Cup “crazy” saying it robs fans of Premier League football for a key period in the calendar.
“Next season when we play in an equally crazy idea, which is a winter World Cup,” Purslow said. “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.
“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.”
