THE Premier League is considering the introduction of a winter break.
A January break has been mooted – meaning the traditional festive football schedule is NOT under threat.
At the moment England’s top flight is the only one of Europe’s top five leagues that does not stop in December and/or January.
Spain, Italy, Germany and France all stop football for varying amounts of time.
The Football Association has previously said that a winter break is not feasible under the current TV deal.
That deal runs until 2019 with negotiations already under way.
“The Premier League has been in discussions with the FA and EFL for several months regarding the challenges of the increasingly congested English football calendar and ways in which we can work together to ease fixture congestion while also giving players a mid-season break,” the Premier League said in a statement.
“Provided space can be found in the calendar, we are open to this in principle and will continue constructive discussions with our football stakeholders to seek a workable solution.”
The Prem is expected to make an announcement on a new deal in the coming weeks.
BT Sport and Sky Sports – as well as a number of other potential rights holders – are expected to see a restructured deal, with the Premier League seeking an increase on the 168 live matches currently aired per season.
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has previously said that the lack of a winter break has held back English teams in the Premier League.
Speaking in November, he said: “I always say the Champions League only starts in February, and in February, the English teams are after December and January where we can play 20 matches over two months and the Germans, the French, the Spanish, the Italians, they all come from a winter break.
“So I think they arrive in better conditions than the English teams.”
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
Pep Guardiola echoed those sentiments in January.
“We’re going to kill the players,” said the Manchester City boss.
“They play 11 months in a row. They have to protect them and play with quality and not quality. We have to think about the artists.
“I know it is not going to change but for what? Life would survive without playing every two days. Nothing would happen.”
Leave a comment