‘Eredivisie is considering playing football at Christmas week after the World Cup final’

The Eredivisie clubs held a first consultation on Monday. The World Cup in Qatar will be forced to stop between November 21 and December 18 next year. FIFA determined that internationals must be available for their national team one week before the start of the final tournament. The Eredivisie continues until Sunday 13 November.

Three dates are on the table for the resumption of the competition, please know AD. It concerns December 26, January 3 or January 10. This means that football may be played again at Christmas in the Netherlands. In the Premier League, among other things, the circus continues a week after the World Cup final. Harry Kane may therefore win gold in Qatar at 35 degrees, to take on a week later at 3 degrees in Burnley. The Bundesliga is just having a long hibernation and will not resume until January 19.

According to the newspaper, there are a few important considerations for the Eredivisie. From a sporting point of view, most clubs would rather not play at Christmas, but there is also a financial side. The clubs will soon be without income for five to six weeks and playing football at Christmas is commercially interesting. Moreover, the smaller clubs can really only continue training if they play again soon.

Sparta director Henk van Stee would like to resume the Eredivisie a week after the World Cup, but he does not have much faith in that. “I don’t think all our top clubs with many internationals want that.”