Premier League facing Easter weekend football blackout
The Premier League and Championship are set to voluntarily be without football over an Easter weekend for the first time this century.
Football’s global governing body Fifa has modified the 2027 spring international break to include Good Friday and Easter Monday next March in a move that will hit the two top tiers of English football.
Reports in the Daily Mail suggest matches further down the pyramid could be impacted, too.
It will be the first time that there has been a voluntary abstention from football at this level in England over Easter since 1997, when Premier League matches were rescheduled to accommodate an international break and qualifying matches for the 1998 Fifa World Cup.
Besides that, and since Easter matches began in 1889, only the two World Wars and the Covid-19 pandemic have impacted matches on the Christian holiday weekend.
The 20 Premier League clubs usually play once over the elongated matchweek, while the second-tier Championship sides would play two matches over the same period.
Easter hit for Premier League
The 2027 international break – lasting a fortnight – will cover the end of March and see the domestic calendar resume with FA Cup quarter-final fixtures, according to reporting.
It comes after a major change in the calendar during the 2025-2026 season, with just one match being shown on the traditionally packed Boxing Day.
A quirk in the broadcast deals across the Premier League, and Boxing Day being a Friday, meant that only the match between Manchester United and Newcastle United was played the day after Christmas in 2025.
That is, however, expected to revert back to tradition in 2026 with Boxing Day this year staged on a Saturday – with a full slate of fixtures, from 12:30pm to 8pm but excluding 3pm kick-offs set to be televised.
Fifa did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail for comment.