Premier League said no to Man City and Chelsea's fixture relief plea, says Guardiola

Manchester: Manchester City and Chelsea appealed to the Premier League to delay their opening games of the 2025/26 season, which was denied due to heavy fixture congestion given both sides will be participating in the revamped FIFA Club World Cup.

The final of the 32 team event will take place on July 13, 2025, less than a month before the expected start to the PL Season, further adding to an already congested schedule for top European clubs. Guardiola confirmed their ongoing talks with the PL officials on Friday and suggested the League will ‘absolutely not’ say yes to the reigning champions.

“The Premier League did not allow us and Chelsea to postpone the first games to help with our recovery — thank you so much. So if they do not postpone these games it will be, ‘Oh, what do we have to do?’.

“I don’t have an answer right now because I have never been there before, I don’t know. We are going to take a decision, I would say, with common sense. We are going to see the players and schedule,” said Guardiola in a press conference.

“Absolutely not. The Premier League say yes to us? No. Absolutely not,” he added.

Fixture congestion is a serious problem in today’s footballing landscape as athletes from around the world have spoken against the increase in games a team has to play in a single season. Over the course of the past two seasons, the number of long term injuries has drastically increased with ACL injuries becoming more common increasing the worry amongst the profession.

Recently Manchester City’s star midfielder Rodri had spoken out on the increased number of games and claimed that the players are close to going on a strike. Soon after his comments, the Spaniard was ruled out for the season after suffering an ACL injury against Arsenal.