By Johnny Orr

With Scottish Premiership football returning this week from a much needed winter break, the SPFL has announced that next season there will not be a two-week break in January.

The change has been forced by the increased schedule of European competitions next season. The Champions League and Europa League have expanded their group stages from six fixtures to ten, meaning that they will run until the end of January. Should they qualify, both Celtic and Rangers will be in Europe after Christmas, a rare sight for Scottish football. SPFL Chief Operating Officer Calum Beattie said: “The additional slots required for the UEFA club competitions next season have made scheduling more challenging than usual.”

It is a big summer for Scotland as the national team heads to Germany for the Euros. The competition will run from June 14th to July 14th. Due to the change in the schedule to accommodate the European competitions, the qualifiers will take place earlier in the year. This could impact Scottish teams that are trying to qualify for European competitions next season, the qualifiers for the Conference League and the Europa League will take place in July and August and teams like Hearts, Kilmarnock and St.Mirren could be without their key players as they represent their countries in Germany. Qualifying for these competitions will provide a much needed financial boost for Scottish clubs.

     Both Hearts and Hibernian took part in the Europa Conference League qualifiers last summer

There is a glaring issue with the change to fixtures for next season. Scottish football stadiums are not always best equipped to fight snow, sleight or heavy rain and due to this there are often many games called-off in the winter months. This is far more regular in the lower divisions but it does still happen even in the top-flight. The winter break provided two weeks where no games could be cancelled. When games are cancelled it is often difficult to fit them in around a hectic schedule towards the end of the season and teams could be hit with multiple games a week for a prolonged period of time. This puts even more stress and strain on the clubs as they fight for titles and survival towards the end of the season.

The already busy schedule for Scottish premiership teams has got even more hectic with the expansion of European leagues. This ultimately means that there is no time to fit in a two week break in the winter. Popular twitter user ‘SPFL Watch’ has said the ditching of the break is ‘sensible’. He said: “The SPFL are already juggling too many fixtures in not enough dates – with the extra UEFA dates from next season having a winter break is just silly.” Fans will also be happy to avoid the two week hiatus as they will get to see more of their teams in an otherwise boring January.