Guardiola Seeks Delayed Start for Man City Next Season Amid Club World Cup Commitment
Pep Guardiola has expressed his desire for Manchester City’s first matches of the next season to be postponed, citing the club’s participation in the Club World Cup. However, he fears that the Premier League is unlikely to accommodate this request.
Guardiola explained that the club had approached the league to delay their start to the season due to the commitments surrounding the 32-team tournament, with the final scheduled for July 13 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. This situation creates a gap of four to five weeks before the anticipated start of the 2025-26 Premier League season, with three of those weeks designated as mandatory rest for players.
“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery,” Guardiola stated, adding sarcastically, “Thank you so much.” He continued, “The club asked the league to postpone one or two or three weeks so we can have a holiday after the [Club] World Cup, but it is absolutely not allowed. The Premier League said yes to us? No. Absolutely not.”
Despite his concerns, the BBC reports that there has been no formal request made to the Premier League regarding this matter. The league has yet to confirm the start date for the 2025-26 season, but based on previous years, it is expected to begin around August 9 or 16, with the Community Shield match likely taking place the week before.
Both City and Chelsea will participate in the Club World Cup next summer. While there have been informal discussions between City officials and the Premier League, the league has indicated that the issues stem from an expanded international calendar that they cannot control.
Guardiola and senior City staff have concluded that the club will have to navigate this challenge without any postponements. In the 2020-21 season, City and Manchester United were allowed to start a week later than other teams due to their participation in European competitions, but it seems this season will be different.
FIFA has mandated that all clubs in the Club World Cup must field their strongest available squads, leaving Guardiola with pressing questions about how to manage player fitness and recovery. “They won’t postpone these games, so there will be a moment of ‘what do we do?'” he noted. “I don’t have an answer right now, but we are going to take a decision with common sense.”