Tournament international football is magnificent. Outside of that everything just feels like a second round league cup tie
The early September international break
- Thread starter horsechoker
- Start date
The March one was suspended after pressure from European clubs. Short-termist bullshit will catch up with you.
Or just have it like a relegation system, if you finish bottom of your Euros/WC group then you have to qualify for the next one. Would stop people moaning about big boys favouritism, and would also give teams more incentive to win every game.
Just have the qualification be solely acquired through the most recent season of Nations League, with maybe one set of playoff games.
Much less "lucky draws" or "lucky qualifiers" that way.
World Cup 2026 -> 16 UEFA berths: easy. Top three from every League A group + group winners of the League B groups. Solved.
Much less "lucky draws" or "lucky qualifiers" that way.
World Cup 2026 -> 16 UEFA berths: easy. Top three from every League A group + group winners of the League B groups. Solved.
I love the World Cup, I enjoy the euros. The rest of international football does absolutely nothing for me.
I know I’m unique in feeling this & nobody else shares this view.
I know I’m unique in feeling this & nobody else shares this view.
This one is the most pointless, they need to reduce the number of games. Players getting 100 caps here there and everywhere because of all the pointless friendlies and nations league and all that shite. Make internationals seem less of a burden and more of an honour.
Instead of regional qualification. The world cup could be an open draw like the FA cup. You can be drawn against any team in the world and the last 32 make the finals. Imagine Brazil heading for Gibraltor or Spain heading out to St Kitts and Nevis for an early round game. Or England flying out to play Cambodia. Some giant killings along the way would make it great fun.
The Euros at this stage may as well just have all the teams at it every 4 years and play it all in one go without qualifiers.
Instead of regional qualification. The world cup could be an open draw like the FA cup. You can be drawn against any team in the world and the last 32 make the finals. Imagine Brazil heading for Gibraltor or Spain heading out to St Kitts and Nevis for an early round game. Or England flying out to play Cambodia. Some giant killings along the way would make it great fun.
The Euros at this stage may as well just have all the teams at it every 4 years and play it all in one go without qualifiers.
Obviously I dislike nearly all international breaks.
I think the September one is annoying because we've just started to enjoy the return of the Prem. However, when it ends we can look forward to the CL starting the season finding its legs. The worst one is going to be the break in November. When you're really beginning to see the shape of the season and you're invested in all competitions and it stops a-f---cking-gain
I think the September one is annoying because we've just started to enjoy the return of the Prem. However, when it ends we can look forward to the CL starting the season finding its legs. The worst one is going to be the break in November. When you're really beginning to see the shape of the season and you're invested in all competitions and it stops a-f---cking-gain
I hate it with every fibre of my being. More than the Carabao cup.
Every bloody time. We have one game per week and then we get a break for good measure... The season basically doesn't start until September.
I initially was getting negative about it but when i think about i think it adds flare to the football game. Football is bigger than just leagues and playing for the ones who are paying you. We dont want to turn into the NHL/NBA style after all. The Euros and WC have their place in football in my opinion.
I love International football, more entertaining than rich clubs Football.
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First of all just 10 years ago there international friendlies in August 
International break in September should only be with no international tournament a few weeks earlier.
International break in September should only be with no international tournament a few weeks earlier.
I just don't get why there isn't a club football season and an international season.
Something like:
Club season - September to April
International season - May to June
Would make a lot more sense as:
A) It isn't all so fragmented
B) International teams would get more rhythm
That said something really needs to be done about teams like San Marino/St Kitts/Gibraltar/Fiji etc. No way is there a need for these teams not to be filtered out with some sort of pre-qualifying. Additionally, the big tournaments need to stop having ridiculous numbers of teams at the finals. Everyone says the last Euros were great, but seem to forget that the Groups were largely dire as so many teams got through to the next round.
Something like:
Club season - September to April
International season - May to June
Would make a lot more sense as:
A) It isn't all so fragmented
B) International teams would get more rhythm
That said something really needs to be done about teams like San Marino/St Kitts/Gibraltar/Fiji etc. No way is there a need for these teams not to be filtered out with some sort of pre-qualifying. Additionally, the big tournaments need to stop having ridiculous numbers of teams at the finals. Everyone says the last Euros were great, but seem to forget that the Groups were largely dire as so many teams got through to the next round.
We get a long weekend here in Canada and the only thing on is shit internationals. I hate it.
Honestly, what's stopping FIFA from compressing the 3 international windows into 1 in October? 6 games are played, every 3 days, that's 4 weeks basically. Just have them play it out in October and keep the March window. As an added bonus a whole month of international games brings back the tournament feeling as well, makes it less of a chore for fans
I tend to take a break away during this one so I don't have to deal with it (much).
Last year was the first time I was in the country for the first international break since the mid 00s.
Second one isn't too bad because fifa is out but the third one is ridicolous overkill, especially when it's not a world cup or Euro year (until 2014 they never had the third break in such a year).
Last year was the first time I was in the country for the first international break since the mid 00s.
Second one isn't too bad because fifa is out but the third one is ridicolous overkill, especially when it's not a world cup or Euro year (until 2014 they never had the third break in such a year).
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It's like having your favourite show back on but 5 mins in they break for adverts.
Denmark v Scotland tonight could be interesting.
Yeah annoys me something chronic, you just get football back, the transfer window closes everyone's excited to see new players and signing, then it all stops for an international break.
It's BEEPING BEEP with a huge BEEPING pile of BEEP BEEP!
It's BEEPING BEEP with a huge BEEPING pile of BEEP BEEP!
All you moaners are not allowed to watch European Championships or World cups. I've decided.
Got to watch the Portugal game, right?
So is the Portugal game on TV? If so what channel?
Decided the best way to avoid my usual boredom of international breaks was to join it, so I’m heading to Wembley on Sunday & will be watching the two England away games on tv. Also Ronaldo’s playing tonight so got to watch that obviously.
Holland has been such a rollercoaster this past decade I'm always on the edge of my seat and so I don't mind the break.
Prior when they nearly always qualified, I was always annoyed.
I don't mind the timing, it has to be done at some point. What's the alternative? Shorter season, then play everything in 3 weeks with a 30man squad?
Prior when they nearly always qualified, I was always annoyed.
I don't mind the timing, it has to be done at some point. What's the alternative? Shorter season, then play everything in 3 weeks with a 30man squad?
I would happily scrap international football and wouldn't miss the world cup or euros. Bin it all.
Qualifiers should be mini tournaments of back-to-back games played at the end of the season. If you take out the international breaks, the season ends in the first week of May. Then you can have qualifiers in June and footballer's holidays in July.
So the summers should be:
2022 - WC
2023 - Euro Qaul.
2024 - Euro
2025 - WC Qual.
etc. etc.
It's still the same number of games just without interrupting the club season.
So the summers should be:
2022 - WC
2023 - Euro Qaul.
2024 - Euro
2025 - WC Qual.
etc. etc.
It's still the same number of games just without interrupting the club season.
Tournaments just about make it worthwhile.
The rest feels like a totally gone bygone era, when players didn't play in different leagues on the whole, you didn't get to see these exotic players very often, and internationals were the undoubted top level of football.
How amazing, and refreshing to have no international breaks after the first 3 PL games, and again after 6 PL games. Please please please find a way to make this permanent.
Yes it's fantastic isn't it?
Nice run of ten league games from early August up to end of September and then two week break for everyone to catch their breath and take stock of their teams start.
Loved the midweek round we've just had and tbh they should re-introduce that anyway given West Ham were only team who needed to play european play off.
Much better flow than playing 3-4 league games and then having to stop everything. Surely you could just play 3 internationals apiece in October and November in future seasons and keep this structure?
Yea, and I’m not sure if we would have carried on the momentum from the Liverpool game if there was a two week break right bang in the middle.
Agree with your suggestion - they need to cancel the first two intl breaks and have a two week break with 3 games end of Oct/Nov.
The only good thing to come with a Christmas world cup
Not fair for national team managers. Only giving them the chance to see the players once a year isn't good, the way it is now and always has been (an international break every few months) allows the team to gel and play together etc.
I have to strongly disagree.
Teams gel together by virtue of two tangible things. One, how much time they spend together (on and off) the pitch and two, how concentrated that time is. For example, it might take a team 10 games to gel together if the team is playing together twice a week. But if the team is playing together once a year and it takes them 10 years to clock those 10 games together, then by the 10th year that team will not have gelled. The time they spent together and played together was too sparse.
The structure I'm proposing is not reducing the amount of games the team will play. It's merely concentrating that time. Therefore the team is more likely to be gelled together and produce better quality football at some point in the qualification tourney or proper tournament, compared to before.
You're arguing there'll be less chance to see/try out players for the national team. But if you're trying less players and keeping with one team, that still only improves cohesion. Clubs don't try out players. They sign players in the summer and mostly persevere with that team for the whole season (with perhaps a tweak or in Jan if deemed necessary). That doesn't harm the club teams, it helps them. No constant chopping and changing. So I'm not sure how it would harm the national teams.
Remember there are still international friendlies. These should take place before the tournament or qualification tournaments. So the manager could call up a larger squad for the friendlies to try out and observe players, then trim it down to the best performing team by the time of the official matches.
Just the way I like it. It's always so frustrating to wait the entire summer for PL football to return only to have a 2 week break after 3 games and then again a couple of weeks later.