Pep Guardiola’s Request to Postpone Premier League Matches Rejected

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s manager, has expressed his desire for the club’s first matches of the next Premier League season to be postponed, fearing the burden on his players will be too much. However, he is not optimistic about receiving any assistance from the Premier League.

Guardiola mentioned that Manchester City requested a delay due to their participation in the Club World Cup. However, he claims that the Premier League has denied this request.

The Club World Cup final will be held on 13 July at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, leaving only a gap of four to five weeks before the start of the 2025-26 Premier League season. Of those weeks, three are mandatory rest periods for players.

“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery,” Guardiola stated. “Thank you so much. I think the club asked the league to postpone one, two, or even three weeks so we could have a holiday after the [Club] World Cup, but it is absolutely not allowed. The Premier League say yes to us? No. Absolutely not.”

However, according to information obtained by the BBC from officials at Manchester City and the Premier League, there has been no formal request made for the postponement.

The start date for the 2025-26 Premier League season is yet to be confirmed, but if it follows previous patterns, the campaign will likely begin on either 9 or 16 August, with the Community Shield taking place the week before. Manchester City and Chelsea will both be involved in the Club World Cup next summer.

BBC sources have indicated that there have only been informal discussions between the club and the Premier League, with officials pointing out that the issue stems from an expanded international calendar, something beyond their control.

Guardiola and other senior members of Manchester City staff have come to the conclusion that they will have to accept the outcome of these discussions and manage the situation accordingly.

During the Covid-affected 2020-21 campaign, Manchester City and Manchester United were granted an extra week off before starting their league games, as both teams had participated in extended European competitions at the end of the previous season. Consequently, they concluded the 2019-20 season on 15 and 16 August, four weeks prior to the start of the new season. Wolves, who also played their last European match on 11 August, participated in the opening round of fixtures but had their match against Sheffield United moved to Monday, 14 September.

FIFA has informed all clubs competing in the Club World Cup that they must bring their strongest available squads for the tournament. Guardiola emphasized the challenges ahead, stating, “They won’t postpone these games, so there will be a moment of ‘what do we do?'”

“I don’t have an answer right now, but we are going to take a decision with common sense,” added Guardiola.