Two-legged League Cup semi-finals to stay as EFL takes hard line with Premier League in announcing 2024-25 plans

The League has outlined its key dates for a 2024-25 campaign which will kick off on August 10, less than four weeks after the end of the European Championships.

The Champions League is set to get even bigger next season, futher increasing the pressure on the domestic fixture list, and leading to calls for the League Cup to be slimmed down, with its semi-final stage the obvious starting point.

The last-four ties are the only ones in the competition not decided on the day. This season Middlesbrough played Chelsea home and way, with the Londoners overhauling a first-leg deficit to progress to Wembley.

But the Football League is sticking to its format in that, and the Football League Trophy, which is unpopular until Wembley approaches.

It has been in negotiations to take a bigger slice of the Premier League's television money through solidarity payments. Government has long threatened to intervene via a football regulator when that comes into being, but prefers the two parties to agree.

The Premier League was set up in 1992 to give top clubs control over their revenue.

The next Football League season will run until May 3, 2025, with the play-offs to follow.

The European Championship takes place in Germany from June 14 to July 14.

It would be a surprise if anyone playing in the final started next season with a Championship club next term, but the Premier League tends to kick off a week later, meaning its players can expect a turnaround of about five weeks.

Too short a break between seasons has been a regular complaint from English-based footballers in recent years.

The plan is for next season's 46 rounds of Championship games to be spread over 33 weekends, nine midweeks and four Bank Holidays, with three more weekend matches in Leagues One and Two, international breaks permitting.

The play-off finals have been pencilled in for their usual bank holiday slot at the end of May.

"Whilst the fixture calendar remains a shared asset across the EFL, Premier League and Football Association, additional pressures from revamped European competitions means that scheduling across the season remains challenging and complex, so it requires a whole-game response to find a solution," said Football League chief excutive Trevor Birch.

“As it stands there is no agreement in place to make any changes to the Carabao Cup’s two-legged semi-final format, which continues to provide significant financial benefit to EFL clubs.

“The League remains committed to a review of the calendar, but any significant changes cannot be made unilaterally, and would need to come with significant levels of compensation and adopted as part of any new distribution deal with the Premier League and its clubs.”