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I am getting more and more into football (soccer, here in the United States) and I was wondering what the season schedule is for the English Premier League regular season. Is it more aligned to College Basketball in the US (Nov - Mar/Apr) or MLB (April - Oct)? How does the season schedule fit in with the FIFA World Cup?
Is this different for different leagues like the Champions league?
English Premier League (henceforth EPL) starts in the month of August (after the FA Community Shield). Quoting from Wikipedia,
During the course of a season (from August to May) each club plays the others twice (a double round-robin system), once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 38 games.
EPL's fixtures are intertwined with other club competitions like Capital One Cup, FA Cup, Euro League and the Champions League. Most domestic league competitions would be similarly scheduled, intertwined with similar domestic cups and such.
Champions League starts later than EPL -- in September (the group stage) and ends later than EPL -- in the end of May. Champions League Final marks the end of the European club football season.
The FIFA World Cup fits pretty well with the club season. The upcoming World Cup is scheduled from the second week of June to the second week of July and was the case for previous World Cups as well. In other words, right in between the two club football seasons.
The premier league finishes on the 11th of May and the World Cup kicks off on the 12th of June. It ends a month later on July 13th. The FA cup 2014/2015 season starts in August immediately after the community shield. The shield match btw is a game between the FA cup winner and the premier league winner (this isn't part of the league but still viewed as an important game in English football).
The champions league finishes in May. However, it recommences on the 1st of July. I do believe there are two CL matches which clash with the World Cup. However, the teams are unknown until A) the season ends and teams qualify for the CL and B) the teams are randomly drawn. I'm really not too sure on this as I don't really follow the CL so don't quote me.
As an Englishman, I don't know how these season schedules compare to your own American sports but I hope it gives you a rough idea :)
