Why are there so many international breaks?
Spain won the most recent Uefa Nations League finals in 2023
- Published
The men's international football calendar is split into five different breaks across the course of the season - one each in September, October, November, March, and June.
A typical international break consists of two fixtures for each country, during which major domestic league matches are paused.
The schedule of the three international breaks in September, October and November has been in place for decades. But from 2026, the September and October international breaks will be combined into a single window of four matches.
Dates are set so far in advance that the calendar for international breaks has already been published as far as 2030.
European nations compete in four kinds of matches during international breaks, depending on which major tournaments are coming up. Fixtures can be classed as Fifa World Cup qualifiers, Uefa European Championship qualifiers, Uefa Nations League fixtures, or friendlies.
Are there more men's international matches than before?
The introduction of the Nations League – in which teams of a similar ranking play a group stage against each other, before the four winners of the top-level groups advance to a mini finals competition – in 2018 has not led to an increase in the number of international fixtures or breaks.
Instead, Nations League fixtures have replaced some of the friendlies, meaning the number of international matches on the annual calendar remains the same.
The international football calendar is set by world governing body Fifa and agreed by the six continental football associations - the AFC (Asia), Caf (Africa), Concacaf (North and Central America), Conmebol (South America), the OFC (Oceania), and Uefa (Europe) – as well as the European Club Association and players' union Fifpro.
Clubs are required to release their players to international teams when they are called into a squad. A player is entitled to take up to four days away from club duty per international fixture, rising to five days for matches played on a different continent, meaning players tend to train with their international team-mates for about 10 days during breaks.
The frequency of international breaks – particularly the three which take place in consecutive months in autumn – often draws ire from fans of clubs competing in the world's major domestic leagues.
But the national football associations of countries lower down the Fifa rankings often rely heavily on revenue from broadcast rights for fixtures played against other nations. That money plays a key role in maintaining and developing football infrastructure in those nations.
In recent years, greater attention has been focused on the wellbeing and workload of football's elite players, who in many cases are playing more matches than ever.
But while top-level club competitions such as the Uefa Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup have undergone significant expansions, international fixtures numbers have remained largely the same.