What leagues have a winter break and when are they?

3 hours ago 1

The Women's Super League and WSL 2, Ligue 1, La Liga and Bundesliga all have winter breaks taking place over the next month.

However, both the Premier League and Italy's Serie A will continue with their respective schedules without breaking.

The Premier League will host one match on Boxing Day, with Serie A's first matches after Christmas taking place a day later.

Ligue 1 will not have any matches for 17 days, breaking after Sunday, 14 December and returning on Friday, 2 January, 2026.

The Bundesliga's final match is a week later. They will also have a 17-day break, returning on Friday, 9 January.

The shortest break takes place in La Liga. Their last match is on Monday, 22 December. They return to action following 10 days without fixtures on Saturday, 3 January.

In the Women's Super League, the top-flight will have eight days longer without a game than the WSL 2.

Dates displayed are where no games are taking place

  • Ligue 1: 15 December to 1 January

  • Women's Super League: 15 December to 9 January

  • Bundesliga: 21 December to 9 January

  • Women's Super League 2: 22 December to 10 January

  • La Liga: 23 December to 2 January

The Premier League has always had an unhappy relationship with the idea of stopping football and having a winter break. Arsene Wenger called for one for years, but it didn't materialise until after he'd left Arsenal in 2018.

Even when the Premier League relented in 2019-20 and introduced a winter break it could not manage to do it like its European counterparts.

Beholden to broadcast partners, and unwilling to have a full weekend without live football, the winter break was split into two: five games on the first weekend, and five on the second. There was no full shutdown.

The whole premise was made a mockery by FA Cup fourth-round replays being scheduled during the rest period. It was effectively random as to who would be affected and have a shortened break. In the first season Liverpool, Newcastle, Southampton and Tottenham all had to play midweek cup games before they could jet out for warm weather training.

In the end, the Premier League only ever had three seasons with this half-baked winter break: 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2023-24.

Covid scuppered it in 2020-21, the winter Qatar World Cup meant there wasn't space in 2022-23, and now the expanded European calendar has killed it off for good.

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