There will be NO Premier League or Championship football next Easter, Daily Mail Sport can reveal.
In a tradition-defying move which is expected to trigger outrage, sources have disclosed that FIFA have shifted the international break to encompass Good Friday and Easter Monday.
As a result both the top flight, which usually stages one round, and the second tier, which has two matches, will be out of action – with other games across the EFL likely to be affected.
This season, the two-week international break takes place on March 28. According to details obtained by this newspaper next season it will start after 20 March’s fixtures and encompass Good Friday (March 26) and Easter Monday (March 29). Fixtures will restart with the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on April 3. The majority of international games are likely to take place on the Saturday and Tuesday.
According to insiders, domestic leagues were not consulted by FIFA, who set the calendar among increasing fixture pressures.
Elsewhere, a merged international break will see the Premier League and Championship pause following September 19 and then not restart until October 10.
The first Easter Saturday match took place in 1889 and games over the Easter period have been a staple for more than 100 years. While games have rarely been played on the Sunday, top-flight matches on Easter Monday began in 1892.
Since 2012 Premier League clubs have played once rather than twice over the weekend. EFL clubs play twice and those in Leagues One and Two who do not lose too many players to international duty are still expected to play.
It can also be disclosed that, as previously reported by Daily Mail Sport, the EFL season will start with the first round of the Carabao Cup, although matches will take place on August 8 rather than a week earlier. League games will kick off on August 15, while the Premier League will begin on August 22.
Boxing Day falls on a Saturday and so it is highly unlikely that there will be a repeat of this season, when only one Premier League match was staged on the traditional Christmas slot.
FIFA have been contacted for comment.
