European football associations seek reversal of three-week international break

European football associations want UEFA to seek an end to the new three-week international break after raising concerns about its sporting and financial effects, the Guardian reported on Friday. Opposition was nearly unanimous at a meeting in Berlin on Thursday, where representatives discussed asking for a return to the previous arrangement of five two-week windows.

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The revised schedule combines the former September and October breaks into a single period. Approved by the FIFA council in 2023, it was intended partly to cut travel demands and improve player welfare. European teams instead faced four Nations League fixtures, generally across 11 days, prompting objections about the concentration of competitive matches. Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt and chief executive Mark Bullingham were among those who challenged the change, according to the report.

Player availability was a central concern. The Guardian listed Kylian Mbappe, Alex Scott, Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Brian Brobbey among those who experienced injury problems. Associations questioned the demands of Nations League football, with its greater intensity and more restricted substitutions than friendlies. The report described widespread concern about workload, rather than establishing that the revised calendar caused any particular player's injury.

Smaller associations also fear that a compressed programme favours nations with deeper squads and greater resources. Their more limited selection pools leave fewer options for resting players across successive games. That competitive concern extends beyond this season's results: performances in the Nations League will determine seeding for Euro 2028, giving the distribution of fixtures added significance for the countries involved.

Financial objections centred on staging two home internationals close together. Some federations reported difficulties promoting both matches and selling tickets, affecting fixtures that normally provide important income. Views were not entirely uniform, however. One association chief wanted to assess the window before reaching a conclusion and highlighted the extra time available for a national-team manager to work with players.

No reversal has been agreed. The Guardian reported that the international match calendar is fixed until 2030 and assessed the prospects of securing a change as slim. Another proposal raised at the meeting was to tailor windows to individual continents, although how that would work remained unclear. For now, the reported push is for UEFA to lobby FIFA, not an announcement of a replacement schedule.