Especially these days I notice one of the big differences between the German Bundesliga and the English Premier League.
While in Germany all stadiums remain closed over Christmas and the turn of the year and the players treat themselves to their well-deserved holidays over Christmas and way into January, things are quite different in England.
Boxing Day, i.e. or as we call it in Germany "The second Christmas day" ( = der zweite Weihnachtsfeiertag), has been a traditionally match day, and this last weekend of 2018 too, people will flock to the stadiums all over England. Even on New Year's Day there will be no rest for players and fans, because 2019 starts right away with the 21st matchday and 3 games. Also the whole January is then played through on each and every weekend, and naturally also in February, when the other European leagues finally get back into the game and restart after the winter break.
No winter break would be unthinkable for German clubs and fans, here in this country want to enjoy some football-free moments and finally have time for other things.
Many stadiums, especially in the lower leagues, would not be playable at this time anyway due to the harsh and unpredictable winter weather conditions, and having a break at this time therefor also helps preventing match cancellations.
Although in particular at the beginning of the second round in the Bundesliga, which usually starts again in February, games are cancelled if the whole stadium is covered by a thick white blanket of snow.
And this season the Bundesliga will take up their matches already in late January, and players and fans will be active quite early, at least aslong the winter continues to be so mild and friendly.
In England however, the weather conditions are a bit different. There is hardly any long and severe snow fall and the temperatures are much more pleasant than in Germany. That's why teams and fans do not have to fear cancellations to the same degree as in the middle of Europe and.
And traditionally the season has always been played without a break and the fans and players are used to spending their time in the stadium at Christmas or New Year. Whether this is always good for the family life is a completely different matter.
But times are also changing in the Premier League. From next season they want to introduce a two-week break, however, the games will not rest over Christmas or the turn of the year, but only in February.
And the so-called ‘mid-season player break’ won't be for all teams at the same time, since the rest days will be staggered. On the weekends there will be only 5 games and 10 teams for the first time ever will have the chance to regenerate. But this winter break will only apply to the 20 teams of the Premier League. The teams in the leagues 2 to 4 will have to get by without the possibility to recover a little during the next season due to the high number of 46 match days.
The English teams' schedule is indeed more than full and many clubs have been complaining for a long time about the strain on their players. The possibility to rejuvenate could the key decision to prevent injuries and to also increase the players performance. Let's wait and see if this innovation will have a positive impact on the international placings of the English teams in the future.
Martin Glenn, the FA chief executive, said: “I think you will see England players better rested for Euro 2020 and hopefully we will see that in their performance and continued improvement in the Champions League performance by English clubs.”
In the next round of the Champions League there will be several interesting duels between representatives of the "exhausted" Premiers League and the "rested" Bundesliga.
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