Every International Break During the 2024/25 Football Season

The football calendar is becoming more hectic every season. With fixture congestion building up, concerns about player welfare growing and FIFA wanting to add more clashes, it’s becoming a struggle to keep up to date. International breaks play a part in the chaos. During the 2024/25 season, there will be three pauses in the domestic period to let nations around the world.

Coming for over a week in September, October, November and March, can make the calendar seem very ‘stop-start’. Some fans hate it and struggle to get behind the idea of the best international teams in the world playing against minnows such as San Marino and Malta. However, if major international tournaments like Euro 2024 are going to happen, the earlier qualifiers have to take place.

The first three breaks in the domestic calendar will see the Nations League take place in Europe. Meanwhile, the period in March will kickstart the continent’s World Cup qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup, which is taking place in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. We have outlined everything you need to know about all four breaks in preparation for the Premier League grounding to a halt for two weeks each time.

Related

Premier League 2024/25: Start Date, Fixtures, Teams, Tickets & More

It’s not long until the Premier League restarts as Arsenal search for their first title since 2004.

1 International Break 1

2nd to 10th September 2024

To begin, the first international break of the season takes place after just three Premier League rounds. The teams in the top flight will have hardly got going before they have to jet off to represent their nation. To some, it will naturally be annoying if they start the campaign with a strong run of form; momentum can be crucial and international breaks can end that quickly.

In September, fans will be travelling across Europe to play in the Nations League. There are four leagues (A, B, C and D), with four groups in the first three leagues and two in Group D. It’s not seen as a prestigious competition despite UEFA’s best efforts to promote it, meaning nothing will truly depend on the matches. If a team wins their group, they are promoted to the league above, whilst those that finish bottom are relegated — as England found out in the previous Nations League.

England are placed in Group B2 for the tournament alongside Finland, Greece and Ireland. Naturally, they should win the group fairly comfortably — and it might be the first opportunity to watch the Three Lions with a new manager if Gareth Southgate, one of their greatest managers of all time, departs after Euro 2024. Their opening two matches see them travel to Dublin to face Ireland, a battle with centuries of history and tension. The police will have to be on high alert due to this, whilst the following match against Finland will have nothing like the same concerns.

Even if they won’t care too much about the Nations League, the Three Lions will be desperate to beat Ireland in their own territory. The last time the two nations played one another was in 2020 when England won 3-0, but they haven’t won away from home since 1964. Elsewhere, in League A in the competition, Portugal will play Croatia, Scotland will start their journey at home to Poland, France are set to clash with Italy once again and the 2018 world champions will then play Belgium just a few days later.

Related

England’s 25 Greatest Players of All Time Ranked by Fans

Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney all feature as the controversial top 25 is revealed.

2 International Break 2

7th to 15th October 2024

Just a month later, the international break will return. For some teams in top flights across Europe, it might act as the perfect opportunity to take a step away from the action, particularly if they’ve had a challenging start to the season. For others, it might come at the worst possible time as they look to take advantage of momentum.

In the same situation as the September break, the Nations League will be taking place during October. England will first face Greece at home on the 10th October before travelling to Finland three days later. The Three Lions haven’t played Greece since 2006, whilst their most memorable moment came from David Beckham’s last-minute free-kick in 2001 to qualify for the World Cup a year later. Naturally, there won’t be that much riding on the fixture this time, but they would love to recreate the iconic scenes.

Elsewhere in the Nations League, the battle to qualify for the ‘final four’ will be occurring in League A. Italy and Belgium will play one another at the start of October as part of their mission to finish top, whilst Spain vs Denmark also stands out as a notable fixture in matchday three. A handful of days later, Belgium’s job gets even harder as they have to face Didier Deschamps’ France, whilst Euro 2024 hosts Germany will play the Netherlands. There is hardly ever a ‘poor’ fixture in the top bracket of the Nations League — which is why UEFA started the competition in the first place.

3 International Break 3

11th to 19th November 2024

The group stages of the Nations League will conclude during the November international break. With a third pause in three months, it can often seem a bit repetitive for club fans who struggle to get into the spirit of their national team. The international break is slower and lacks tempo compared to the frantic nature of the Premier League, yet there could be major matches taking place in November.

In England’s case, they will be playing Greece once again, this time away from home, before clashing with Ireland at Wembley in one of the fiercest international rivalries. The Three Lions will be expecting to secure promotion back to League A in these fixtures — and anything other than that would have to be considered a failure.

The favourites for League A will be hoping to finish top of their groups to make sure they place in the ‘final four’ of the competition. Portugal are the firm favourites in A1, whilst Spain, Germany and France will be expected to come top in the three other groups. Naturally, though, nothing is ever guaranteed as Euro 2024 showcased.

The four teams which qualify will take part in the finals from the 4th-8th June. This is after the season concludes, allowing the nations to focus elsewhere beforehand. Meanwhile, teams such as Scotland, Bosnia and Israel — all of whom are in the top tier — will have different expectations and be hopeful of avoiding relegation.

Related

Lyrics to All England Songs and Chants (Complete Guide)

England have a long list of songs and chants, all of which will be sung at major tournaments. Check out our guide for the complete songbook.

4 International Break 4

17th to 25th March 2025

Fast forward four months and the international break will return for two weeks in March. Whereas the previous pauses saw the Nations League take place, the crucial World Cup qualifiers will begin in Europe in March 2025. It’s one of the world’s hardest competitions to win, yet you can only get there if you qualify in the first place. Whilst countries like England will be expected to qualify as they have some of the best players in the world, it’s not the same story for European minnows like Scotland. They haven’t competed on the main international stage since 1998.

There are 10 matchdays during World Cup qualifying for UEFA — and the first two will take place during the March international break. The group stage draw for the qualifiers have not been completed, with it expected to take place after the Nations League. Currently, every European nation will be competing apart from Russia, who are banned due to their invasion of Ukraine. Teams will be drawn into twelve groups of four or five teams to play home-and-away round-robin matches. The group winners will qualify for the World Cup, while the runners-up will participate in playoff matches.

The March international break can typically prove as a major marker for the season. It allows teams across Europe to pause, reassess and analyse what they need to do to meet their goals. Once they return from the break, the run-in to the end of the campaign starts. The likes of Arsenal and Manchester City will be hoping to win the Premier League, whilst battles across Europe are expected to claim glory. The worst possible scenario for clubs during any international breaks is injuries, so they will all be wishing players luck to make sure they come back in one piece.