New Delhi: As the Premier League resumes action after this year’s final international break, the top flight of English football has already announced its next season’s dates. The league has announced that the the season will start on August 16th 2025, and the final round will be played on 25th May 2026.
The Premier League has confirmed that the 38 machdays will be played in 33 weekends with five round being played in the midweek. In the 2023-24 season, Premier League had faced outrage for Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers playing on Christmas eve. The league has confirmed that there will be no games on Christmas eve in the next season just like this season.
Next season’s start and end dates are confirmed 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/9xh1npHJKH
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 22, 2024
Premier League have noted that the schedule is laid out so that players have enough rest and recovery, noting that no two rounds will be played within 60 hours of each other during the “festive match-round period”. The fixtures were designed considering the overcrowded Christmas and New Year schedule.
Resting period between seasons
The start date is 83 days from the end of this season, maximising the amount of rest recovery time for players by as much as possible. Despite this, Chelsea and Manchester City won’t have much relaxation as an expanded FIFA Club World Cup format takes place. If the sides play the knockout stage and the tournament finals, they will be looking at an end date between June 15 and July 13th.
This means the sides will have just one month to rest and regroup before the next season commences. Man City’s coach, Pep Guardiola, revealed last month that the club had requested that the kick-off date of the season be postponed. However, the league had denied the request.
The Club World Cup is wedging a gap between the football worlds, with many accusing FIFA of commercialising the game without considering players’ health. Further, big leagues have noted that the football governing body didn’t consider the opinion of its shareholders when inflating the tournament format from seven to 32 clubs.
Premier league have announced the schedule of 2025/26 season in mid-August next year amidst navigating through a busy off season. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
