The Premier League have set out their plans for the mid-season winter World Cup next year, with domestic action to break for six weeks to accommodate the tournament in Qatar.
The 2022/23 season will begin earlier, on the first weekend in August, stop from mid-November, then resume on Boxing Day.
The end of the Premier League season will be slightly later, at the end of May, with the FA Cup final at the start of June.
Meanwhile, the Champions League group stage will be played out earlier than usual, with the final group game on November 1/2, while the final will take place in June for just the second time – the other time being in 2019 when the Reds won No.6 in Madrid.
For Liverpool, a mid-season break without any home games will be well-timed in terms of the expansion of the Anfield Road End stand.
Construction on the new stand is to begin this month and will continue throughout the 2022/23 season, when the site itself will shut down around matches. Therefore, it will provide a significant period for work to continue apace ahead of the planned completion in the summer of 2023.
2022/23 Season Proposed Dates
August 6 – season begins
November 2 – final Champions League group games
November 13 – season pauses
November 21 – World Cup begins
December 18 – World Cup final
December 26 – season resumes
May 28 – end of season
June 3 – FA Cup final
June 10 – Champions League final
It will be interesting to see, eventually, whether teams plan any friendly games during the prolonged break for those players who aren’t participating in the World Cup.
Usually, players would return to club pre-season during the tournament’s latter stages, preparing for the season ahead.
Jurgen Klopp will likely afford his non-World Cup players a mid-season break, but a training camp for those not in Qatar seems highly likely.
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