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Premier League clubs will face more havoc next season, with clashes between European and domestic matches and no mid-season break.
The top teams face the possibility of three clashes between midweek European fixtures and Carabao Cup assignments.
It was announced that the 2024/25 season will run from August 17 to May 25, with the detailed schedule due on June 18.
There are two rounds of Champions League matches in the last fortnight of January and that explains why FA Cup replays were not considered viable by the top six clubs, who pushed for the change.
Some third round replays would normally be played in the second half of January, but all replays have been scrapped, as Mail Sport recently revealed. The Champions League group stage is being expanded from six games to eight and will fill this void at the end of January.
Premier League clubs face additional chaos next season with three clashes between the European and Carabao Cup weeks.
There will be eight net Champions League group stage matches in the season; the additional two will be played around the time the FA Cup replays would have been played.
And while there was a reduced schedule in early and mid-January to allow players to recover this season, no such respite will be granted in 2024/25.
The first date of the clash between the Carabao Cup and Europe comes in the week beginning September 16.
In midweek the third round of the Carabao Cup will be played with the first matches of the group stage of the Champions League.
And the same applies to the following week, where Carabao Cup assignments will be combined with the Europa League.
It will force clubs involved in Europe to alternate their schedule, playing domestic cup matches the week before or after playing in Europe. The first week of Europa League matches is “exclusive”, meaning clubs will have to play EFL Cup matches a week early.
Meanwhile, matchday six of the Europa Conference League coincides directly with the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on December 18, and there is “no obvious solution” to this conundrum.
There is “no obvious solution” when the Europa Conference League faces the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on December 18.
The Carabao Cup semi-finals will be played over two legs, a tradition that dates back to 1961, when the competition was founded.
UEFA has insisted it is not responsible for the date changes and that the responsibility for relieving pressure on clubs’ calendars lies with national associations.
