Premier League fans love few things more than waking up early on Saturday and Sunday to catch the latest action from the world’s top soccer league. This weekend, though? You can go ahead and sleep in.
The Premier League – along with a large majority of men’s soccer leagues around the world – is off this weekend. Soccer never sleeps, however, with national teams all over the globe facing off in various competitions and friendlies. The stars of the biggest clubs in England will probably be quite busy, but they’ll be suiting up for their countries rather than their clubs.
Whether that means the UEFA Nations League, Africa Cup of Nations qualifying or World Cup qualifying in South America, it’s a jam-packed weekend in the world of soccer. That includes the U.S. men’s national team, who will play a first-ever game under new head coach Mauricio Pochettino in a friendly match against Panama Saturday night.
Here’s what to know about a weekend off for the Premier League:
The Premier League is off this weekend, and there’s a pretty simple reason why. FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, maintains an annual calendar that carves out certain windows for national-team play. There’s no actual requirement that professional club teams have to stop playing during this time, but there is an ironclad rule requiring those teams to let any players called up for national team play to leave during those windows.
Essentially, leagues are left with the choice of soldiering on without many of their biggest names, or shutting down for a weekend. For example, MLS, which will see the Columbus Crew and New England Revolution play a game on Saturday rescheduled from May 29, has long been criticized for this practice – though the league has significantly reduced how often it asks teams to play regular-season games without many stars.
This particular window runs from Oct. 7-15, with national teams permitted to play no more than two matches during the window. That means a gap in the Premier League schedule from Oct. 6 until the next match, which will see a full slate of 10 games, beginning when Tottenham host West Ham United on Oct. 19 at 7:30 a.m. ET.
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During this time, what national teams are up to depends on what continent you’re curious about. CONMEBOL, the governing body for South American soccer, has scheduled two rounds of its marathon World Cup qualifying process. Asian World Cup qualifying is also going on for 18 teams still standing. In Europe, most teams have UEFA Nations League play, while qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations (Africa’s biggest tournament for national teams) is also taking place in this window.
For everyone else? A steady diet of friendly matches is filling the calendar. The USMNT, for example, will play Panama and Mexico in this window in games that don’t have any formal competitive consequence, but will be the first steps in the Pochettino era.
Fans of women’s soccer will have to take note of this same situation in a couple of weeks. FIFA’s calendars for men’s and women’s soccer differ slightly, with the next window for national team play coming up from Oct. 21-30. The U.S. women’s national team will play two games against Iceland in that window, as well as a third against Argentina on Oct. 30. This may impact how much USWNT stars can play in the final weekend of NWSL matches, which will run from Nov. 1-3.
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Here is the Premier League table after seven rounds of games, as we head into the international window:
