The Premier League entered unchartered territory this year as teams went on a near six-week break in action to enable the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar to take place.
Fans have never experienced the league being paused for such a length of time in the English winter before, despite the fact that a hiatus in the mid-season period is now commonplace across other major European leagues.
However, 2022 was different, as a host of Premier League players jetted off to Qatar.
Here, The Sporting News takes a look at when the Premier League will return after Qatar 2022, alongside what ramifications the World Cup will have on the rest of the English campaign.
MORE: Complete fixtures for all 20 Premier League clubs in 2022/23
When did the 2022/23 Premier League season start?
Due to the scheduling of the FIFA World Cup, the Premier League season for 2022/23 began on August 5, a full week earlier than the start date for the 2021/22 campaign.
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal was scheduled as the curtain-raiser to the new Premier League season.
Refreshed. Reset. Ready for 2022/23 🏆 pic.twitter.com/RFHQTjcBFd
— Premier League (@premierleague) June 9, 2022
When did the Premier League break for the World Cup?
Premier League chiefs scheduled 16 rounds of fixtures before breaking for the World Cup, with the last set of matches before the pause played on the weekend of November 12-13, 2022.
Controversy surrounded the scheduling of that last set of games, due to reports that the FA had proposed an amendment to the fixture schedule to ensure that no 'Big Six' clubs played each other in the week before the World Cup.
The FA have submitted a formal request to the Premier League asking for matches between the 'Big Six' not to be scheduled on the weekend before the World Cup starts 🏆
— SPORTbible (@sportbible) June 8, 2022
Via @JamesOlley pic.twitter.com/SBYBRQUJWC
Whether that proposal was ever formally adopted or not is not clear but regardless, when the fixture computer had done crunching the numbers and the schedule for 2022/23 was revealed, it was notable that Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham all avoided each other on those dates.
Chelsea and Arsenal, and Tottenham and Liverpool, were paired on the round before, though, going head-to-head on the weekend of November 5-6.
When does the Premier League return after the World Cup?
The Premier League will return to action after the World Cup on December 26 for the traditional Boxing Day fixtures.
The World Cup final took place on Sunday, December 18 leaving any Premier League players involved in that showpiece with very little recovery time before being thrust back into club duties.
Emiliano Martinez, Alexis Mac Allister, Raphael Varane and Hugo Lloris all started the World Cup final and had just eight days to recover before potentially returning to club action.
The Premier League has agreed to break during next season after the weekend of November 12 to incorporate the Qatar 2022 World Cup, before resuming fixtures again on Boxing Day, Sky Sports News understands.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 22, 2021
Premier League Boxing Day schedule
England's top-flight returns with a bang after the World Cup with seven games to be played on Monday, December 26.
| Match | Time (GMT) |
Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Brentford vs. Tottenham | 12:30 | 07:30 |
| Crystal Palace vs. Fulham | 15:00 | 10:00 |
| Everton vs. Wolves | 15:00 | 10:00 |
| Leicester City vs. Newcastle | 15:00 | 10:00 |
| Southampton vs. Brighton | 15:00 | 10:00 |
| Aston Villa vs. Liverpool | 17:30 | 12:30 |
| Arsenal vs. West Ham | 20:00 | 15:00 |
We're ready. Are you? 🫵
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 20, 2022
⚽️ #PLReturns | @LethalBizzle 🎤 pic.twitter.com/UwHT3Qvg3u
When does the 2022/23 Premier League season end?
The last matches of the 2022/23 campaign will be played on Sunday, May 28, bringing the curtain down on an extended Premier League season.
All 10 fixtures on the final day will kick off simultaneously at 4 p.m. local time, as under Premier League rules there can be no staggered matches on the final day of the season.
📆 The 2022/23 Premier League season's dates have been announced:
— Free Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) November 11, 2021
6th August: Season begins ⚽️
13th November: Last match-day before World Cup call-ups 🗣
18th December: World Cup Final! 🏆
26th December: Premier League resumes 👍
28th May: Final match-day of the season 🎬 pic.twitter.com/cKdPpJGabl
Premier League 2022/23 TV channels, live streams
When the action does resume after the break for the World Cup, here's where you can watch all the action in various global territories:
| UK | USA | Canada | Australia | |
| TV channel | Sky Sports, BT Sport | USA Network, Telemundo, Universo | — | — |
| Streaming | NOW TV, Sky Go, Amazon Prime | fuboTV, Peacock | fuboTV | Optus Sport |
UK: Matches are carried across Sky Sports and BT Sport streaming and TV platforms, with select matches on Amazon Prime.
USA: Select matches are televised on USA Network (English) and Telemundo or Universo (Spanish), and all three channels can be streamed on fuboTV. The rest of the matches are streamed on NBC platform Peacock for subscribers.
Canada: Every Premier League game streams live and on demand exclusively via fuboTV.
Australia: Fans in Australia can stream matches live and on demand on Optus Sport.
How does the 2022 World Cup affect European competitions?
English sides featuring in the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League have also had to contend with some revised schedules in 2022/23 due to the World Cup.
The group phase of those tournaments was condensed into a much shorter time frame than in previous seasons, with sides playing in three separate spurts, with a three-week and then two-week break in-between.
Group stages ended in early November, rather than extending into December as usual.
European group stage schedule 2022/23
| Competition | UEFA Champions League | UEFA Europa League | UEFA Conference League |
| Matchday 1 | September 6/7 | September 8 | September 8 |
| Matchday 2 | September 13/14 | September 15 | September 15 |
|
Matchday 3 |
October 4/5 | October 6 | October 6 |
| Matchday 4 | October 11/12 | October 13 | October 13 |
| Matchday 5 | October 25/26 | October 27 | October 27 |
| Matchday 6 | November 1/2 | November 3 | November 3 |
European finals 2022/2023
- UEFA Champions League: June 10, 2023
- UEFA Europa League: May 31, 2023
- UEFA Conference League: June 7, 2023