Premier League clubs involved in August’s mini-tournaments for the Champions League and Europa League are expected to ask for a start later.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Wolves are still involved in the UEFA club competition, although Chelsea will have to overturn Bayern Munich’s 3-0 first-leg home defeat to reach last eight in the Champions League.
City, United and Chelsea are also still in the FA Cup and a team reaching the final of that and a European competition would have added seven games to their league match tally.
To add to that, the Europa League finals are in Germany on 21 August and the Champions League finals in Portugal two days later.
They will thus likely demand permission to start after the rest of the division next season to allow their players a longer break.
It is understood that the Premier League would consider a request for delaying the opening fixtures for clubs in 2020-21.
The domestic campaign is scheduled to begin in mid-September and there is concern about the lack of rest that would allow due to the congested end of this season and the prospect of staging Euro 2020 in summer 2021. Some players couldn’t have an extended 13-month holiday.
Fifpro, the global players’ union, is aware of the concentrated workload on its members.
On Friday, it called for the complete rest of at least three weeks between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns before players begin pre-season training. It also urged leagues to ensure a mid-season break of 10 to 14 day, extend the rules allowing more substitutions and place a restriction on footballers playing consecutive matches without adequate time for recovery.
“Research has shown higher injury rates simultaneously with less than six days of rest between matches,” Fifpro said.
In a statement it added: “The match calendar had already stretched a large percentage of elite-level footballers even before the Covid-19 pandemic, with a lack of recovery time between games and insufficient mental and physical rest between seasons. Now, we’re seeing a first spike in injuries since the restart due to insufficient preparation time and congested match schedules. Hitherto, discussions on match calendar reforms have overlooked the responsibility of balancing competition organizers’ needs with players’ needs.”
City has a 2-1 lead over Real Madrid following the first leg of their last-16 tie in the Champions League. Meanwhile, United are all but sure to reach the tournament in Germany as they lead Lask 5-0 into their last-16 second leg of the Europa League and Wolves’ 1-1 draw at Olympiakos gives them a realistic opportunity to progress.
