Huge international break schedule change to come with Premier League fans in for a shock

Three matches into the new Premier League season, the players went their separate ways to compete in friendlies and qualifiers with their international teams.

England are scheduled to face Andorra and Serbia in the September international match window, which this year runs from September 1 to September 9, and by the end of it some players will have played as many national team games this season as club fixtures.

Then, in the second week of October, they’ll do it all over again.

When are the FIFA international match windows?

International football is a divisive matter among Premier League supporters but even some of its advocates dislike the September match window.

It can be particularly irksome after a major summer tournament and ending each season with a pair of internationals in June can leave the impression that there’s rather a lot of international football.

The penultimate men’s international window of 2025 runs from October 6 to October 14 and will be followed by a last match window between November 10 and November 18.

Each window offers a maximum of two matches per team in what’s become a familiar format for fans and critics of international football alike.

There’s a World Cup in the summer of 2026, before which the traditional two-match international windows will take place in late March and early June.

After that, it’s all change. There will only be two international match windows in the first half of the 2026-27 season, but there’s a twist that’s sure to drive some fans to despair.

When is the first international break of 2026-27?

If followers of international football enjoyed the trend for three-game windows a few years ago, they’ll be jumping for joy at the news that the September and October international breaks are being merged.

FIFA doesn’t just give away potential matchdays. The first window of 2026-27 will be later in the season but each national team will play up to four fixtures in one mammoth burst between September 21 and October 6.

This is a permanent change. According to FIFA’s agreed men’s international match calendar, the new four-match September/October will be in place until at least 2030.

Introducing a double window to each season is bound to cause consternation for clubs. For all the benefits of getting a season properly underway before hitting pause, including reduced travel for many players, two full weeks away represents a big shift from the routine.

The two-game November match window remains unchanged.