If you follow soccer leagues closely, then you might have heard about the term “International Breaks” at some point throughout the soccer league that you enjoy watching on a regular basis.
If you have heard about the term before, but you have absolutely no idea about what it means, then you’ve come to the right place.
International breaks in soccer are breaks that the major soccer leagues around the world take in order to allow country teams to retrieve their selected players. During the international break, soccer players join their country teams to compete against other countries either in friendly matches or in qualifier matches.
Why do international breaks exist?
It’s true that a professional soccer player can only play for one soccer club at a time, however, that doesn’t prevent a soccer player from playing with their country’s soccer team too.
Most of the countries around the world have their own soccer team that competes in international soccer competitions like the world cup. These country teams pick the best soccer players from their country, and ask them to join the team.
The players picked by their country’s team will have to play for both their club and their country.
With that said, these players won’t be able to compete in some league matches if international soccer matches are taking place.
For that reason, the top soccer leagues around the world will have to take a break to allow their players to join their country’s teams and compete with them. These international soccer breaks force the soccer leagues to adjust their schedules in order not to extend the duration of the league by a lot.
When do international breaks take place?
Usually, the international soccer breaks take place a few times throughout the year. The number of international breaks per year isn’t fixed. It is decided every year. Usually, the number of international breaks is between 3 and 5.
For example, the international breaks during the 20/21 season are 4. They were scheduled on September 5-6, October 10-11, November 14-15 and March 27-28 according to goal.
It’s worth noting that some of the international breaks take place before the top leagues start. However, they are still called “Breaks” because they are intended to pause whatever the soccer players are doing in order to bring them to their country team.
Why do international breaks have a bad reputation among soccer fans?
Many of the soccer fans around the world hate the international breaks (me included). Here are a few reasons why you might hate them too.
1- Most of the matches are boring.
The soccer matches that take place during the international breaks are usually boring. They are either friendly soccer competitions, or they are competitions that decide who’s going to join the World Cup or any other major competition between countries.
Friendly matches are usually extremely boring because there is no incentive for winning at all. Winning a friendly match is pointless. Friendly matches only take place in order to test the new players of the team and in order to allow the players to gain some chemistry among each other.
However, winning or losing a friendly match means nothing, which means that none of the teams will give it their all during a friendly match and this usually makes friendly matches less competitive and less exciting.
The qualifier matches also aren’t very exciting either. Most of the matches will include country teams that aren’t good at all. A soccer match is usually enjoyable when both competing teams are extremely good.
For these reasons, the soccer matches that take place during the international breaks are usually boring.
2- Soccer players might be injured.
Soccer injuries are common for professional soccer players. For that reason, you don’t really want the top performing players of the team that you love to leave the team for a few days in order to compete in some useless matches.
Even though the matches that take place during the international breaks aren’t very intense, yet they still impose the risk of injury on all players.
For that reason, soccer fans fear that they lose the best performing players of their favorite team just because of a match that took place during the international break.
3- The top soccer leagues will have to pause during international breaks.
This is one of the main reasons why many soccer fans hate the international breaks. The top soccer leagues around the world include some of the best soccer matches a fan can ever dream of.
With that said, pausing these matches isn’t a pleasant experience for any of the soccer fans around the world.
These are the main reasons why the soccer international breaks have gained a negative reputation throughout the years.
Here’s a summary of what you have just read
International breaks exist to allow soccer players to clear their schedules and join their country’s soccer teams. They take place a few times per year and they pause the top soccer leagues around the world a few times during each season.