The Premier League’s Winter Break: All You Need To Know

The 2021/22 season of the Premier League features the return of the winter break, after last season’s interruptions in the fixture schedule forced its cancellation.

The winter break has already been established for many years in some of the top European leagues such as La Liga and the Bundesliga, and after many managers complained about the tiredness and energy levels of their players during the busy schedule, the Premier League finally decided to introduce the break a few years back.

Here is everything you need to know about this season’s edition of the winter break.

When is the Premier League winter break?

The 2021-22 Premier League winter break is scheduled to take place between 23rd January and February 5th, 2022. The break was originally planned to end on the February 8th, before Burnley v Watford was postponed and rearranged for February 5th.

When was the Premier League’s winter break first introduced?

The winter break was first introduced in the Premier League during the 2019/20 season. It began during February 2020, when players had a week off. Before this introduction however, it was a long-standing tradition in English football to play four games over Christmas and the New Year, a rule that has now changed to respect the health of the players.

Why has the Premier League introduced a winter break?

The Premier League unlike many of the other top European Leagues, did not have a break mid-season. This led to many managers complaining about the workload their players had to face. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola had previously talked about the festive schedule and how it had affected his players. “We are going to kill them [the players].” He said when asked about the upcoming fixtures. “The players need recovery. The schedule does not protect the player. I think the schedule will always happen because of the tradition but think about the players — they are artists.”

In the end, the Premier League did listen and implemented the winter break to help the players get some rest and recovery.

Will some players not get a break?

Yes, despite the break applying to all the clubs and players in the league, there are quite a few players who will be on international duty at the same time. Due to the impact of the global pandemic on World Cup Qualifiers in many different footballing regions including South America (CONMEBOL), North and Central America (CONCACAF), Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC), there will be a double round of fixtures that are scheduled to take place in January and early-February, which is during the Premier League’s winter break. Liverpool’s Alisson will be travelling with Brazil. The goalkeeper will be joined by Man City’s Ederson and Gabriel Jesus who will also be on international duty with Brazil.

The African Cup Of Nations is also currently taking place meaning players such as Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah will be in action during the break, while Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy will also be competing in AFCON.

Before the winter break was implemented these players would have missed important games for their clubs, but now they can return from competitions like AFCON and begin where they left off in the Premier League – they will just have less time to recover over the break.

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