When is the next international break? How September, October dates have changed for 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup now fades in the rear view mirror, and champions Spain now look into the future along with the rest of the global international community, players eye their chance to impress in the first window of the 2030 cycle.
National federations will reset and look towards the next World Cup four years from now, to be held in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.
Their first chance to advance their squads to the next four-year cycle will come at an unusual time, and for an unusual length, as the traditional September and October international breaks have been scrapped and combined into one big window.
The Sporting News explains why FIFA has made this slight change to the international match calendar, and what it will look like for the next few months.
When is the next international break?
The next international break will begin on September 21, 2026 and continue through October 6, 2026.
Because of the significant length of this international break, which spans 16 days, national teams are afforded the chance to play as many as four games across the two weeks.
Why have the September and October international breaks merged?
In the recent past, the FIFA international match calendar has allocated one week in September and one week in October for two different international breaks.
However, in 2026, that has changed in a significant way.
Due to the length of the World Cup in 2026, which expanded to 48 teams for the first time in history and took six weeks to contest through the summer, FIFA has decided to give players a little more time for recovery and re-integration at their club teams before returning to international duty.
To do so, they combined the September and October international breaks into one, giving national teams two weeks for camp across the two months during which they will play four games.
National team coaching staffs will love the chunk of time with their players, as they rarely get so long to implement their philosophies with a squad.
Is there an international break in November?
There is still the regular international break in November 2026.
From November 9 to November 17, national teams will convene across the globe to play up to two matches.