REVEALED: Premier League clubs face MORE chaos next season as match dates for 2024/25 are released… and there are ‘no obvious solutions’ to some of the clashes between matches European and national
- There will be three confrontations between the European and Carabao Cup weeks.
- Arne Slot must be his own manager. Replacing Jurgen Klopp is an impossible task. Don’t try to imitate him – Listen to It’s All Kicking Off! podcast
- Phil Foden reveals what it’s REALLY like to play for Pep Guardiola in It’s All Kicking Off special. Listen on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts
Premier League clubs face further damage next season, with clashes between European and domestic matches and no mid-season break.
The top teams face the possibility of three clashes between midweek European matches and the Carabao Cup assignments.
The 2024/25 season will run from August 17 to May 25, it has been announced, with a detailed fixture schedule to follow on June 18.
There are two rounds of Champions League matches in the last half of January and this explains why FA Cup replays were not considered viable by the top six clubs, who pushed for the change .
Some third round replays would typically be played in the second half of January, but all replays have been scrapped, as Mail Sport recently revealed. The Champions League group stages are reduced from six matches to eight and will fill this gap at the end of January.
Premier League clubs will face further chaos next season with three clashes between the European and Carabao Cup matchweeks.
There will be eight Champions League group stage matches this season – the additional two will be played around the time the FA Cup replays would have been
And while there was a reduced schedule in early-mid January to allow players to recover this season, no such respite will be given in 2024/25.
The first date of the Carabao Cup clash with Europe will take place in the week commencing September 16.
This midweek will see the third round of the Carabao Cup at loggerheads with the first matches of the group stages of the Champions League.
And the same goes for the following week, where the missions of the Carabao Cup will mix with those of the Europa League.
This will force clubs involved in Europe to alternate their schedule, playing domestic cup matches the week before or after their match in Europe. The first week of Europa League matches are “exclusive”, meaning clubs will have to play EFL Cup matches a week earlier.
Meanwhile, matchday six of the Europa Conference League clashes directly with the Carabao Cup quarter-final on December 18, and there is “no obvious solution” to this conundrum.
There is “no obvious solution” when the Europa Conference League faces the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on December 18.
The Carabao Cup semi-finals will remain home and away, a tradition that dates back to 1961, when the competition was created.
UEFA insisted it was not responsible for date clashes and that it was up to national associations to ease pressure on club calendars.
