Premier League to Implement 10-Day Winter Break Starting in 2019-20 Season
The FA have announced that as of the 2019/20 Premier League season an enforced winter break of 10 days will be put into effect in order to help performances in future international tournaments.
The FA have been fighting for this opportunity for a long time, and have finally been given the chance to put it into effect.
The Premier League is one of few top flights across Europe that doesn't currently have a mid-season rest period for its players, and there have been a lot of calls for reform from players as well as managers. The physical and mental drain on players is blamed for being one of the key reasons why England under perform in international tournaments, and the FA believe the break will help tired minds and legs.
“It has been talked about for years and there has not been the climate of collaboration there is now,” said Martin Glenn, the FA chief executive (via the Guardian). “It needed a strong FA to get it through, an FA that was financially in a better place and confident of its future revenue streams.
“I think you will see England players better rested for Euro 2020 and hopefully we will see that in their performance and continued improvement in the Champions League performance by English clubs.”
The break will see one Premier League gameweek split over two weeks to allow a ten day rest period for players, and it will take place after the hectic schedule around Christmas and New Year in order to keep the financial benefits of TV rights.
“If you were to look at other countries that do it, their technical people say, it’s as much the mental break as the physical one,” Glenn said.
“There is nothing as intense as an English Premier League season, with 38 games that all count for something. The hope is that players will be more mentally rested, which makes them fresher. From an England point of view they will hopefully go into end‑of‑season tournaments with a bit more verve and vim.”
