How the Premier League 2022-23 season would be affected by Qatar World Cup '22

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is all set to take place from November 21 to December 18, 2022, in Qatar. With the FIFA Men’s World Cup scheduled to be a winter tournament, the Premier League has now announced its schedule for the 2022-23 season, which has a lengthy mid-season break.

The Premier League 2022-23 season will start from August 6 and stop after 16 gameweeks when the FIFA World Cup 2022 kicks off in Qatar. Premier League action will resume after eight days of the World Cup final and will end with the concluding rounds on May 28, 2023. 

The Premier League schedule for the 2022-23 season has been heavily impacted by the FIFA World Cup, as representatives of all the 20 teams in the league gathered in London on Thursday to oppose the controversial calendar plans. While Premier League action would be on a break, players will have to represent their national teams at the epitome of global football before returning to their clubs.

As reported by The Guardian, the Premier League clubs cited player welfare, fan experience, pre-season preparations, and quality of the competition while opposing the scheduling of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Premier League joins UEFA and European Club Association in opposing FIFA's plans

As per the Guardian, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, while speaking about the tightly packed schedule of players, said, "The Premier League is committed to preventing any radical changes to the post-2024 Fifa international match calendar that would adversely affect player welfare and threaten the competitiveness, calendar, structures, and traditions of domestic football."

Though the league is open to ideas of reform, Masters said that FIFA must look to enhance the balance between domestic and international football if they seek to improve football at all levels. The Chief Executive also added that FIFA should involve people with meaningful agreements with the football league that would provide foundations for the game.

He also assured that the league will continue working with supporter groups, players, domestic and international stakeholders to find solutions for the issues in order to improve the long-term future of the sport. Alongside Premier League, the UEFA and the European Club Association have previously expressed concerns about FIFA’s plans.

(Image: AP)