Major change to Premier League schedule announced as new feature is quietly ditched after just five seasons
THE PREMIER LEAGUE will have a major calendar change from next season with the winter break being scrapped.
It comes along with a huge revamp of the FA Cup.
An announcement from the FA has today revealed the mid-season break will be removed to accommodate a later start date for the league.
The decision has been made in light of “expert advice from medical and technical departments” which states a longer summer break is more beneficial than a short winter break.
A statement on The FA’s website said: “The mid-season break is removed from the calendar to allow a mid-August start date for the Premier League.
“This longer summer break allows all Premier League clubs to be better able to ensure that players get a consecutive three-week break in the summer.
“This takes into account expert advice from medical and technical departments, which values a longer period of complete rest in the summer rather than a short break in the winter.”
This season the winter break saw five matches played on the weekend of January 13, with the other five being played on the weekend of January 20 to give the teams a week to rest in the middle.
It was first introduced to the English top flight in the 2019/20 season after being agreed in 2018.
However, the schedule chaos caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and 2022 World Cup starting in November saw the mid-season break not implemented again until this year.
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Arsenal were one of the main beneficiaries of the winter break this season, winning eight league games in a row after coming back from a trip to Dubai for it.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta called his team “recharged” and “re-energised” following the break.
Outgoing Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was a big fan of the mid-season break.
He told Sky Sports earlier this season: “You don’t want to have a four-week break or something like that in the middle of the season but after a very intense period, having these few days was very important.”
On the other hand, Everton Sean Dyche will be a happy Toffee as his wish to axe the winter break has come true.
In January Dyche said: “I don’t see the point of the break. It’s not beneficial and I’d take it away. It would be better to lose a couple of fixtures in December and put them in January to spread it out.
“With more games (close together) the big clubs are bound to gain because of their big squads. If you’re like us and get injuries, you’re stretched.
“I’d be surprised if that break doesn’t disappear from the scheduling. We will see.”
Meanwhile, the announcement has seen FA Cup replays scrapped from the first round proper from next season.
Lipton on FA Cup replay changes
THE FA and Premier League should have done the deal to scrap FA Cup replays years ago.
No doubt traditionalists will moan but it is right that the competition has finally been brought into the 21st century.
Ending replays will bring extra sharpness and excitement to the ties, with the knowledge that there will be a winner, whether in 90 minutes, extra-time or penalties.
If big guns have a bad day, they are more likely to pay the price. Replays after draws give them a fall-back they do not deserve.
Giving the FA Cup total and absolute priority over four weekends – and ensuring there is no competing match on the day of the Final – will enhance the profile of a competition that was in danger of falling out of the spotlight.
And as long as the FA ensures a better split of the prize money fund, weighting it more towards the earlier rounds, and potentially a similar move with TV match money, there should be few losers.
A further change will see the FA Cup played on the penultimate weekend of the Premier League season on an exclusive Saturday that will see no other matches played that day.
This exclusivity has been extended to the fourth, fifth and quarter-final rounds of the oldest cup competition in the world, with no Premier League fixtures to be played on the same weekends.
Elsewhere, from 2025/26 the Premier League have agreed to increase their funding of grassroots football by £33million on top of the £100m already distributed for good causes.
The new format agreed by the Professional Game Board will also allow for the EFL play-off finals to be ringfenced during the May Bank Holiday weekend.
The agreements will be in place for a minimum of six seasons.