The bane of club managers all over the world, and an absolute nuisance for the modern football fan, the frequency and tediousness of the international break has lead to calls for the regular season intervals to be abolished.
Nothing halts the momentum of a team quite like the international break, and fans start counting down to the end of the period as soon as it starts. From season-ruining injuries for key players, to a staggered return of players to their clubs after national duty, it's difficult to see much benefit in the current system of qualifying matches for major tournaments.
As a player, representing your national team should be a moment of pride and honour, not a meaningless friendly against Malta in the middle of the Premier League season. Fan attendances are low too, further highlighting the lack of interest in international matches during the domestic season.
And it's not just the clubs that suffer. Meeting up for a period of ten days after a month of intensive domestic competition is not the way for players to gel together for the national side. Just because they share nationality does not mean they can perform at the optimum level straight away. Managers of national teams often find themselves short of time to implement their strategies and philosophies into the squad, and this usually leads to disjointed performances - ones which barely show what the players on the pitch are capable of.
The solution? Well, for starters the current season could be shortened to finish a month earlier in April, thanks to the period of time saved through no more international breaks in the regular season. And surely it would be better to host a summer qualification period, whereby teams could play out ties without the stress of club duties in the back of players' minds.
Emerging managers would actually be able to build a cohesive unit of players, rather than hurling a selection of unacquainted players onto the pitch. Even the option of two qualification periods - one in the winter and one at the end of the season - wouldn't be too grueling, especially thanks to the shortened length of the domestic season and the gradual increase in player fitness levels as pure athletes alone allowing them to play more often.
Of course, such a drastic change in the football calendar will not be possible, in the short term at least, however FIFA could begin to implement some feasible ideas into the system following the conclusion of the World Cup in 2018. From thereon in the suggestion of gradually eliminating one international break per season in exchange for an end-of season fixture could become a reality, taking us to a full transformation by the time the next World Cup rolls around.
While many managers and even players lament the lame culture surrounding the archetypal international break of the modern age, FIFA have not acted as of yet, and unfortunately this will probably mean the system will not change unless concerns are voiced universally by a majority of key figures in the game. Judging from the corruption and dirty secrets entrenched within the organisation, this is not something we can keep our hopes up for in the near future.
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