Premier League reject Manchester City approach to postpone up to three games at the start of next season | OneFootball

Manchester City have seen an approach to postpone up to three games at the start of next season rejected by the Premier League with a view towards additional rest.

The 2023 UEFA Champions League success has seen Manchester City qualify for a revamped version of the FIFA Club World Cup scheduled for between the end of the ongoing season, and the start of the 2025/26 campaign.

32 teams will compete for the trophy that Manchester City claimed for the first time in 2023 in Saudi Arabia, as FIFA build a global stage for their tournament over in the United States, with 12 host stadiums now having been announced across the country.

However, there have already been major concerns about the impact that the tournament could have on player safety, fitness, and overall welfare given the growing strains placed on athletes through the football calendar.

Speaking during a pre-match press conference this week, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has now revealed that the Premier League rejected an approach to postpone the club’s opening games at the start of next season in the interest of player welfare.

Guardiola said on Friday, “After the holidays, the Premier League didn’t allow us to postpone, with Chelsea I think, or all the teams that went to the World Cup, the first two games for recovery. Thank you so much!”

“So if they don’t postpone these games, that will be the moment, ‘Oh, what do we have to do?!’ I don’t have an answer right now because I’ve not been there before. I don’t know. I think we’re going to take a decision, I would say, with common sense,” Guardiola continued.

“We’re going to see the players, we’re going to see how is the schedule, and after we’re going to decide.”

When quizzed for clarification on his comments and whether the Premier League had not allowed Manchester City and Chelsea to delay their first games of next season, Pep Guardiola continued, “The first one, the first game.”

“I think the club asked the Premier League, with the first or second game of the new Premier League, to postpone it by one, two or three weeks, to have one more week or two more weeks after the Club World Cup.

“Absolutely not (it is not allowed)! The Premier League say yes to us?! No! Absolutely not! It’s not going to happen.”

The format of the brand new, revamped Club World Cup will follow the model of recent FIFA World Cup for international sides, with 32 teams split into eight groups of four, and the top two teams in each group progressing to a Round of 16.

From that point in the competition, single-match knockout ties will be played all the way to the final, and should such matches be tied, extra time and penalties will be used to decide who advances to the next stage.

As mentioned, the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will take place from 15 June to 13 July 2025, falling between the 2024/25 and 2025/26 domestic and European season.