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10th June 2024
12:05pm BST
Dates for the 2024/2025 Premier League season have been released and feature the omission of a recent addition to the calendar.
The winter break, which only made its return last season, has been removed by the Premier League organisers in order to allow the campaign to start in mid-august, giving players more time to rest after the Euros.
The Premier League says that the decision "takes into account expert advice from medical and technical departments, which values a longer period of complete rest in the summer rather than a short break in the winter."
The winter break was introduced into the top flight of English football in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and made a reappearance last season following the resumption of normal scheduling after being skewed by the Qatar World Cup.
Traditionally the Premier League has not featured a winter break, enjoying the festive fixtures such as the famous boxing day matches, despite the pause in play in all the other major leagues across Europe
Down the years this has proved divisive among fans as some argue for the continuation of the tradition, while others say that with a increasingly congested schedule players deserve a rest
The Premier League will kick-off again the weekend starting August 17 with the final whistle being blown on the season May 19. Across the season fans will see 33 weekend matches, four midweek rounds and one bumper Bank Holiday matchweek.
Eager fans will have to wait to discover who their teams will be facing down with and when they will be playing their biggest rivals as match fixtures will be released June 18.
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