2022 World Cup calendar - how it works in Europe's top 5 leagues
By Tom Gott
The 2022 World Cup will be unlike any held before for a multitude of reasons, one of which is the fact it will be taking place towards the very end of the calendar year instead of the northern hemisphere summer.
Because of that, European club football will have to take a back seat and leagues have been forced to come up with a way around the tournament.
Here's how the top five divisions are planning on doing that.
2022 World Cup schedule
The group stage will begin on 21 November, with fixtures every day up to and including 2 December.
24 hours later on 3 December, the round of 16 will get underway. There will be two matches per day, with the round coming to a close on 6 December.
After a three-day break, the quarter-final will start on 9 December, with two games played that day and the final two ties of the round on 10 December.
The semi-finals are set for 13/14 December before the final brings the fun to a close just a week before Christmas on 18 December.
Premier League
The Premier League will take a six-week break to allow for the World Cup to take place.
The competition will pause on 14 November after 16 rounds of fixtures and resume on 26 December, only eight days after the World Cup final is due to take place.
To help fit in the fixtures which would usually be held across that time, the league will kick off slightly early on 6 August and end on 28 May 2023, slightly later than normal.
La Liga
As of yet, La Liga have not confirmed when they will pause and resume around the World Cup.
Bundesliga
Like the Premier League, the Bundesliga will also shut up shop on 14 November, but the plan is still to hold a winter break following the conclusion of the World Cup.
The Bundesliga will return on 20 January 2023, with the German second tier resuming a week later on 27 January. The final match of the season is currently scheduled for 27 May, two weeks later than the 2021/22 campaign.
Serie A
Serie A officials are currently working on their schedule for the 2022/23 season.
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 will pause on 14 November to give players one week to prepare for the World Cup.
The action will return on 28 December for gameweek 16, before another round of fixtures arrives three days later. The season's end date has been pushed back to 4 June to make room.