English FA move to fix Premier League Matches to help England in World Cup

As the 2022/23 Premier League season nears its start, another tournament gears to begin; the Qatar World Cup.

It’s a tournament that must be talked about even ahead of next season’s club competitions, and it is something the English Football Association shares a concern of.

In view to that, the FA have moved a motion prior to next season’s Premier League fixture lists are out, that no matches between the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ clubs be staged the weekend before the start of the World Cup.

This is partly to help its national players maintain some degree of freshness and in a way aid in their transition into the English squad ahead of the World Cup.

The English FA believes, allowing games between the Big Six a week before the World Cup commences, will either have the prospects of draining England’s key players or leaving in them some animosity that may have come from results in those clashes.

The idea they believe is to keep the players fit, fresh and ready to settle in the Three Lions Squad as soon as possible.

In essence, the Premier League fixture lists is going to be fixed in a way that prevents high stakes derby clashes, supposed title deciders and high end rivalries.

The 2022 Qatar World Cup gets underway on November 21, the first time it has been held during the winter.

The Premier League’s final round of games before the mid-season pause will take place on November 12 and 13, just eight days before England take on Iran in their first World Cup group match on the opening day of the tournament.

To accommodate the tournament, the Premier League going on a mid-season break of more than six weeks.

Fixtures for the Premier League are generated at random through a system developed by Atos, a digital company used since the league’s inception in 1992.

England boss Gareth Southgate has been reportedly concerned about the quick turnaround for his players, saying recently that:

“What would help is if we don’t get a derby or those sorts of ‘big six’ games. But it’s not the fault of the League the World Cup is being held in the winter.”