5 Ways to improve the annual football calendar in England

#2 Give the clubs a proper Christmas break

Tottenham faced Brighton on Boxing Day in 2019 - but should England's clubs be playing over the Christmas period?

English football – unlike the rest of Europe’s big leagues – has always had a packed Christmas schedule, and the truth is that many fans would feel lost without plenty of games to watch during the festive period. But in reality, should the Premier League’s biggest clubs really have to play so many games across such a short period of time?

Look at Tottenham Hotspur’s 2019 Christmas schedule, for example. Jose Mourinho’s side played Chelsea on December 22nd, Brighton on December 26th, Norwich on December 28th and Southampton on January 1st. That’s a ridiculous 4 games in just 10 days, and obviously, Spurs weren’t the exception to the rule – all of the Premier League’s clubs had a similar schedule, with Liverpool’s being even worse due to their involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup.

And the schedule doesn’t get any better in the lower leagues; EFL Championship side Nottingham Forest, for example, played games on the 21st, 26th and 29th of December and also on the 1st of January.

With schedules like that, it’s no wonder that teams and players end up suffering burnout and injuries – and are often more tired than their European counterparts when it comes to the return of the Champions League and Europa League in February. So what could be done differently?

Well, it may hurt the feelings of fans – and of television companies – but it’d probably be a good idea for English football to fall into line with the rest of Europe and give their sides a proper Christmas break. 2019, for instance, could’ve seen the break begin after the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of December, extending until the FA Cup games on the weekend of January 4th.

That would’ve given the clubs at least 12 days off, with three games being missed. So where could they be played instead? In those pesky midweek slots usually taken up by the EFL Cup, which would preferably be scrapped. Not only would this idea bring English football into line with the rest of Europe, but it’d give the players a chance to spend Christmas with their families, too.