The impact of the extended 2026-27 international football break

The first international break of the 2026-27 season is almost over - and it has been a longer one than fans are used to.

For the first time, the Premier League and Championship paused for three weeks rather than the usual two with players returning to domestic action from Friday.

The idea was brought in by Fifa with player welfare in mind, but, with a growing list of injuries, has it really been a success?

Who benefits from an extended international schedule? And do people really want a three-week break from domestic action when the season has only just got going?

In recent years, Fifa has used five primary international breaks during the season, all consisting of two-week gaps in March, June, September, October and November.

The switch to a three-week gap across late September and early October, alongside reducing the number of breaks down to four, was made for a number of reasons.

One was that the scheduling of the 2026 World Cup final on 19 July was the latest date for a summer World Cup since 1966.

Player welfare also featured in the discussions, this including travel considerations.

The reduction in the number of breaks will reduce the number of journeys some players face in having to travel from one continent to another for their international fixtures . One such example is African and South American players who play their domestic football in Europe and have to travel cross-continent to fulfil international fixtures.

But with the domestic season just starting to get interesting, fans tend to bemoan the interruption - no matter the length - and long for the return of club football.

The extended international break might have been brought in with player welfare in mind, but the reality is that a number of players will return to their clubs with injuries.

It is hard to quantify whether more injuries have been picked up during the past fortnight than during other international breaks and it must be factored in that this is a lengthier break with more fixtures. A full and fair comparison might have to wait until the end of the season, after all the international breaks.

However, there have been numerous injuries to players since players joined up with international team-mates.

On Monday, it was announced that Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott had withdrawn from the England squad with a thigh injury and the Cherries are unhappy with the way they believe England handled the injury.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland asked to be substituted on 67 minutes, subsequently limping off in Norway's match against Portugal on Sunday before leaving camp on Monday while club team-mate Nico O'Reilly returned to City for further assessment.

Following the injury to Haaland, the Norwegian players' union (NISO) expressed concern over the increased demands.

"Over time, we have seen a worrying trend where the burden on top players has become far too high," NISO chief Kristoffer Vatshaug said.

"We want clearer guidelines for workload and recovery. It is about the time between matches, consecutive rest periods, travel strain and how much time players get to recover after a long season."

Liverpool duo Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak have both picked up injuries with Gakpo withdrawing from the Netherlands squad with an ankle injury and Isak pulling out of Sweden duty with a minor thigh injury.

Portugal boss Jorge Jesus revealed Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes had been playing through pain while Sunderland's Dan Ballard and Brian Brobbey both sustained hamstring problems.

Club managers will have their fingers crossed that no more names are added to that list with three days of fixtures still to be played.

England's Tino Livramento, Kobbie Mainoo, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford and Declan Rice all pulled out of Thomas Tuchel's squad before the start of the break.

Away from the Premier League, there have also been injuries to some of the biggest stars in the game with Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe sustaining an injury while on duty with France and Barcelona's Raphinha also returned from Brazil with a thigh injury.

England boss Thomas Tuchel has previously been critical of the three-week break, saying it is "more challenging" than previous years, citing travel and having only two days of rest between games as problems.

In a news conference on Monday before England take on the Czech Republic on Tuesday he said: "I can assure everyone that player welfare is priority number one.

"But new training styles and training times, different positions to play maybe, increase the chance of injury."

On whether the extended break has had an impact on injuries, he said "we need to get the numbers right" before deciding.

"Is it really more or is it the same amount [of games] as in two shorter little windows? I don't have the answer to that," he said.

"The two-week window is not guilty for everything. If it is a thing, we will adapt and make the most of it as always.

"I didn't like the start of it after a long tournament to have a long window. There are also positives to it like we saw against Croatia after having three matches together.

"The team is together for longer, more training sessions, more meetings, more of the same language. You see improvements and automatisms clicking in. We made it a very good camp."

The international break signals an opportunity for fans to swap their usual Premier League or Championship ticket for a trip to a local lower league club or Women's Super League match.

Women's teams associated with a Premier League club often take the opportunity to play their home matches at the larger men's stadium to allow more fans to attend.

Without tiers one and two of the football pyramid in action, it also means room on the television schedule for lower-league matches - a financial boost for those clubs.

While it is difficult to compare week by week attendances because of the number of variables, the international break does offer some fans the chance to watch other teams in action.

Across the 11 games played in League One and League Two on Saturday – nine postponed because of international call-ups – only three had attendances less than their home average for the season.

In the WSL, five of the seven games played over the weekend had a higher attendance than the home club's season average.