Leeds United set for January 2024 mid-season break as Premier League announces dates for next season

This season the competition goes on hold from November 13 to Boxing Day but for many top players it is not break at all, with the first winter World Cup filling the gap.

Although the 76-day gap between the end of this season and the start of the next is the same as last year, it will feel like the most forgiving pause since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The last couple of years have been extremely gruelling for top players, with the problems of a winter World Cup compounded by 2020's Covid-19 lockdown.

Three months without football that spring meant a very short turnaround between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, and the delaying of that summer's European Championships by a year.

This season six weeks have been lost to the World Cup, with the English domestic season extended by just a week either side to make space for it.

Inevitably it has led to some very tired teams and a number of players being ruled out of the Qatar World Cup, which starts on November 20, through injury.

The current campaign ends on May 28 – when Leeds United are at home to Tottenham Hotspur – although for some there will still be a Champions League final and European Championship qualifiers to negotiate.

European countries crammed four very unwelcome Nations League games into June, whereas next summer they only have European Championship qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

The 2023-24 season ends on May 19, although the long lead-in to the June 1 Champions League final means a short turnaround for those involved in that and Euro 2024, which kicks off on June 14.

The Premier League has also ruled no team's matches will be less than 48 hours apart in a busy festive period, and there will be a mid-season break from January 13-20.