Will the 2022 World Cup affect the 2022/23 Premier League season?

The 2021/22 domestic season got under way on August 13 and will run until May 22.

This season will also be the second to have a February winter break despite the fact that no major football will take place next summer.

The Qatar World Cup is then being staged at the end of 2022 meaning it will cause major disruptions to the next Premier League campaign.

The Premier League will break during next term after the weekend of November 12 before resuming fixtures again on Boxing Day.

This includes a start date of August 6 and a finish day of May 28, 2023.

Players will have a week of preparations with their national teams before heading out to the tournament in the Middle East.

They will then have only eight days to recover in time for the league’s resumption should they reach the final on December 18.

Executives of all 20 Premier League clubs were in London earlier this year for a scheduled meeting, and the programme for 2022/23 was decided.

There is set to be only six weekends without Premier League games.

It is understood that Championship games will break too but Leagues One and Two are set to continue during the tournament.

What has been said?

The idea of a winter World Cup being staged has been met with plenty of opposition – Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow labelling it ‘crazy’ as he expects a hiatus to affect clubs and fans in England once it begins.

He said: “Next season when we play in an equally crazy idea, which is a winter World Cup, 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.

“These are decisions that get taken a long time ago. They bite, quite soon. Next season we’ll all see that.

“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.”