The first international break of the 2026-27 season is drawing to a close, and it has lasted longer than supporters are accustomed to. For the first time, the Premier League and Championship paused for three weeks rather than the usual two, with players due to return to domestic action from Friday.
The change was introduced by FIFA with player welfare in mind. In recent years the governing body used five primary international breaks during a season, each consisting of a two-week gap, in March, June, September, October and November. The new arrangement moves to a three-week window across late September and early October and cuts the number of breaks to four.
One reason for the shift was scheduling: the 2026 World Cup final was set for 19 July, the latest date for a summer World Cup since 1966. Player welfare, including travel considerations, also featured in the discussions. Reducing the number of breaks cuts down the number of journeys some players face travelling between continents for international fixtures — a particular burden for African and South American players who play their club football in Europe.
Yet with the domestic season only just finding its rhythm, fans tend to resent the interruption regardless of its length. The question hanging over the break is whether it has actually delivered for the players it was designed to protect.
If the intention was to lighten the load, the injury list tells a more complicated story. It is difficult to quantify whether more injuries have been picked up over the past fortnight than in other international breaks, and any fair comparison may have to wait until the end of the season, once all the breaks have been played out. This window, after all, contained more fixtures.
Even so, the casualties have been numerous since players joined up with their national teams. On Monday it was announced that Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott had withdrawn from the England squad with a thigh injury, and the Cherries are unhappy with the way they believe England handled it. Manchester City striker Erling Haaland asked to be substituted on 67 minutes and limped off in Norway’s match against Portugal on Sunday before leaving camp on Monday, while club team-mate Nico O’Reilly returned to City for further assessment.
Haaland’s situation prompted the Norwegian players’ union, NISO, to voice concern about the demands placed on top players. “Over time, we have seen a worrying trend where the burden on top players has become far too high,” said NISO chief Kristoffer Vatshaug. “We want clearer guidelines for workload and recovery. It is about the time between matches, consecutive rest periods, travel strain and how much time players get to recover after a long season.”
Liverpool pair Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak have both picked up injuries, with Gakpo withdrawing from the Netherlands squad with an ankle problem and Isak pulling out of Sweden duty with a minor thigh injury. Portugal boss Jorge Jesus revealed that Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes had been playing through pain, while Sunderland’s Dan Ballard and Brian Brobbey both sustained hamstring problems. Club managers will be hoping no more names are added, with three days of fixtures still to come.
England were already dealing with a lengthy list of absentees before the break began, with Tino Livramento, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice all pulling out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad. Beyond the Premier League, Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe sustained an injury while on duty with France, and Barcelona’s Raphinha returned from Brazil with a thigh injury.
Tuchel has previously been critical of the three-week break, describing it as “more challenging” than in previous years and citing travel and having only two days of rest between games as problems. Speaking on Monday, before England face the Czech Republic on Tuesday, he stressed that player welfare remains the priority. “I can assure everyone that player welfare is priority number one,” he said. “But new training styles and training times, different positions to play maybe, increase the chance of injury.”
Asked whether the extended break had driven the injuries, Tuchel said the numbers needed to be properly assessed. “Is it really more or is it the same amount [of games] as in two shorter little windows? I don’t have the answer to that,” he said. “The two-week window is not guilty for everything. If it is a thing, we will adapt and make the most of it as always.” He added that he had not liked the break’s placement after a long tournament, but saw benefits in the longer camp, pointing to England’s performances against Croatia after three matches together, with more training sessions, meetings and time to build understanding. “We made it a very good camp,” he said.
Fans have been less measured. “I don’t think any Premier League or Championship fan backs this idea. It’s just boring without your club in action for so long,” said Shay from Swindon. James McCreadie argued that supporters are tired of losing players to what he called a glorified friendly, and noted the crowded calendar awaiting clubs in Europe and the Carabao Cup. Matt from York pointed to the number of injuries in the break, most of them muscular and including a player as robust as Haaland, as evidence that the experiment has been a mistake. Kelvin Thomas questioned whether withdrawn players would make a miraculous recovery on returning to their clubs, while another supporter, James, felt the situation highlighted suggestions that some players value club over country.
The picture is not entirely negative. The break offers fans the chance to swap a Premier League or Championship ticket for a trip to a lower league or Women’s Super League match, and women’s teams linked to Premier League clubs often use the window to play home fixtures at the larger men’s stadiums. With the top two tiers out of action, there is also room in the television schedule for lower-league matches, a financial boost for those clubs. Across 11 games played in League One and League Two on Saturday — nine of which were postponed because of international call-ups — only three had attendances below the home club’s average for the season. In the WSL, five of the seven games played over the weekend drew a higher attendance than the home club’s season average. Whether the three-week experiment ultimately succeeds, however, may only become clear once the season has run its course.