NATIONS - 2022 WC: how the competition will change the calendar

12.10.2021 20:00 of E.B. TransferMarketWeb   see readings
NATIONS - 2022 WC: how the competition will change the calendar
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© photo Daniele Buffa/Image Sport

Already disturbed by the Covid-19 crisis, the international calendar may be even more upset due to the dates of the next World Cup, in Qatar, which will take place from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

While Thibaut Courtois deplored already too important a series of matches during the Final Four of the Nations League, last week, the daily L'Equipe reveals that there will be only one week of rest between the last day of the Championship and the start of international competition. Players would only leave in selection from November 14.

While the coaches used to prepare two or three friendlies ahead of international competitions, this time around, there will be only one gathering before the World Cup, between September 22 and 27, in the part of the Nations League group stages, where only two matches will be played. This news should not please Didier Deschamps, who already deplored that "the sequence of matches is difficult" after the Blues' draw against Ukraine (1-1) last September.

But the question of the calendar would also worry the clubs, especially in Ligue 1. According to the UEFA circular, it is possible that the players have only one week or two of vacation between the end of the World Cup and the resumption of the World Cup. France championship. The 16th day of Ligue 1 would be played at the end of December and the following from the beginning of January. There would only be a five to six week hiatus as the next season is set to start on August 7, 2022 and end on June 4, 2023.

Normally, the French championship takes a two-week break until early January. On the Champions League side, the group stage will start a week earlier, on September 6, and end in early November. The final will be played on June 10, 2023 in Istanbul. An upheaval in the schedule that should not please clubs, as well as players' unions, while the idea of ​​a World Cup every two years interests FIFA more and more. And this, despite the complaints of the series of meetings.