The 21st round of the Premier League will be played at 01:30 Beijing time on January 4. Every year from December 26 to January 4 of the following year, in less than 10 days, Premier League teams have to play 3 games, and many teams have to run in three places, and the intensity can be imagined. For Premier League clubs, that's the norm. This is the Premier League's Christmas "Devil's Schedule".
After playing the league before Christmas, the major leagues in Europe basically have to take 2-3 weeks off to let players and club staff celebrate Christmas and New Year's Day, and also allow players to relax appropriately to improve their competitive status. With only 18 teams in the Bundesliga, in years when there is no World Cup or European Cup, the "winter break" in previous years can be as long as 1 month. The Premier League "does the opposite", not only does not have a "winter break", but breaks the convention of one game a week and arranges intensive matches to entertain the fans.
Football has become the world's first sport by virtue of the incomparable advantages of other sports, it is not just a game, but a sport with deep cultural roots; football fan culture reflects the fans' ideological beliefs, values, life pursuits, spiritual outlook and behavior.
As the birthplace of modern football, England is also recognized as a football power, and its fan culture is as old as the history of the birth of modern football; English fans occupy an important position in the development of football, and its football culture also has a unique position in the culture of fans around the world.
(England fans celebrate reaching the final four of the World Cup in Russia)
(England fans 2018 in Russia)
In 1848, the Cambridge Rules, the first literal form of football, were born; in 1862, the world's first football club was established in Nottinghamshire, England; on October 26, 1863, the world's first football association, the English Football Confederation (FA), was established in London, and the first national football competition rules in Britain were formulated and adopted, and the first football competition rules in the world. The birth of the English Football Confederation marks a new stage in the development of football. As a result, 26 October 1863, the day of the founding of the English Football Confederation, is recognized as the birth day of modern football. From the 2nd Olympic Games in 1900, football was listed as an official Olympic sport, but it did not allow professional athletes to participate. In 1904, the football associations of the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland established the International Football Federation in Paris, France. Since 1930, the World Football Championship (also known as the Fifa World Cup) has been held every 4 years, and restrictions on professional athletes have been lifted.
(The richest and most powerful FIFA logo)
Why does the Premier League have no winter break and schedule Christmas matches?
To put it simply, there are two reasons. One is the intensity of the event, and the other is commercial interests.
The tournament is intense. In the early days of the English League, there were 22 teams, more than the 20, 18 or even 16 teams in other national leagues; the Premier League has now been reduced to 20 teams, but compared with the other countries with only one cup competition, there is one more cup (FA Cup and League Cup), and the FA Cup also has a replay rule. In this way, clubs with good results, in addition to domestic competitions, plus European competitions, may participate in more than 60 competitions a year. With only 52 weeks a year and time reserved for the national team for The European Cup or World Cup, the Premier League (including the former Top League) must arrange many matches in a limited time; in the long run, scheduling games during the Christmas and New Year has become an integral part of English football culture. Coaches and players complain about the intensive competition, but fans are happy to see it. The intensive schedule will not only allow fans to have more games to watch during the festival, but may also add more uncertainty to the league and make the Premier League more exciting. The "Christmas Schedule" has contributed to the Premier League becoming the most watched football league in the world.
Commercial interests. The Premier League, independent of the FA, enjoys the right to negotiate broadcast rights and sponsors, and is the most successful group in international football, even if it is a relegated team, and can also receive a lot of participation fees, even more than some of the clubs in other leagues that participate in European competitions. This is also the reason why Premier League clubs can bring in a large number of international players with high salaries. Stars, exciting matches, a virtuous circle, this is why the Premier League has become the "first league" in football. When the commercial development of this league reaches its extreme, the league is a gyroscope that cannot stop rotating, and the "winter break" rests? Not only does it not exist, but various events also want to take the opportunity to add events on holidays such as Christmas + New Year's Day to stimulate the ratings of the game! In this case, not only is it impossible to have a winter break, but there may be a "devil's schedule"!
This year's Christmas schedule, due to the impact of the epidemic, there have been 8 postponements, I don't know if the English fans have regrets!
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