Manchester City has recently asked the Premier League to reschedule the start of the 2025-26 season, which the Premier League has denied due to their participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, according to Pep Guardiola.
City requested their opening fixtures to be rescheduled to afford them more time to recover after the Club World Cup to be held in the United States. Guardiola is worried about the state of his team players, more so after the loss of one of his best key midfielder Rodri to knee harm before the start of this season. He dares not make this amendment because he believes the new burden entail all sorts of tough injuries.
For City, the new 32-team expanded Club World Cup could only stretch their season if they go as far as the final, which could go to July 13. The next Premier League season was expected to start either on August 9 or 16, which would mean that players would be allowed just four weeks of rest. It may be even closer, however, if City are involved in the Community Shield, as has been the case in six of the last seven years.
However, Guardiola stated that City has appealed for more recovery time which has been rejected. He recalled that the Premier League has not reciprocated, making it worse the relationship between City and the league since the club is defending 115 alleged charges of financial misconduct, including one for failing to cooperate with an investigation.
I think, honestly, the Premier League didn’t let us postpone and Chelsea, I think, and all the teams that will go to the World Cup – the first two games to get more recovery. Thank you so much! Guardiola said: ‘They do not delay those games’.
He also explained that City had formally asked for a deferment of several of its first matches, wanting to extend holiday by one or two weeks after the World Cup but to no avail. As for the team’s choice of refusing, Guardiola rejoiced, saying, Absolutely not. The Premier League agreed with us? No. Not. It’s not going to happen."
The Premier League has not spoken out, but it is known that there were initial talks about blaming the pandemic and discussing the possibility of rescheduling matches, but Manchester City has received no signal that they would receive permission to proceed in this way.
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