European football associations have serious concerns about the extended international break and will ask Uefa to push for a return to the previous scheduling. The new three-week window left European countries with four Nations League games, a set of fixtures that typically took place within 11 days. The change has prompted deep misgivings over player workload, injuries and financial viability. One FA president described the schedule as ‘a disaster’, while numerous others called it unworkable.
Opposition was virtually unanimous when the matter was discussed at a meeting of European FAs in Berlin on Thursday, with the subject prompting a series of passionate interventions. The Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt and chief executive Mark Bullingham were among those who spoke out, highlighting the drawbacks of a calendar change approved by the Fifa council in 2023. Many at the meeting expressed a clear preference for the set of five two-week breaks that preceded this season.
The break, which truncates the previous September and October windows into one longer spell, was intended in part to improve player welfare and reduce travel commitments. But an overwhelming number of FAs are unhappy with how a bruising run of Nations League fixtures worked out in practice. Those games are generally played at a higher intensity than friendlies and with fewer substitutions available. Kylian Mbappé, Alex Scott, Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Brian Brobbey are among a lengthy list of players to have picked up injury issues during the window.
Smaller countries have additional concerns: their reduced player pools offer less scope for players to be rested. There is also a sense that countries with bigger resources hold a competitive advantage when playing a large chunk of their Nations League fixtures at once. That could prove significant because Euro 2028 seeding will be determined by performance in this competition.
Some federations also expressed dissatisfaction about the break’s commercial implications, reporting challenges in marketing and selling tickets for two home matches in close proximity. International games are usually valuable ways for football associations to raise funds. One FA president suggested the window should be adapted according to the needs of each continent, although the logistics of such a plan would be unclear. A counterpoint came from a different FA chief, who said his federation would conduct an analysis of the break’s merits and pointed out the benefits of extended time for his national team’s manager to work with players.
Although there is a strong appetite for Uefa to lobby Fifa to scrap the format, the prospects of their efforts bearing fruit are slim. Relations between the governing bodies have plummeted to an all-time low since the Fifa Forward Enterprise scandal, and the international match calendar is locked in until 2030. Any success may hinge on a change of leadership at Fifa, whose under-fire president Gianni Infantino is looking to win a fourth term in March.