The 2022 Premier League season is over, and fans globally turn their attention to the highly anticipated 2023/24 campaign. The upcoming season is the 32nd edition of the Premier League and the 125th season of the top-flight English football. Let’s check out what we know so far.
Defending Champions and Potential New Record
Manchester City have defended their Premier League title yet again in the 2022 season. While this was their 9th overall top English league championship, it was also their third consecutive trophy.
In the 2023/24 season, they will have a chance to become the first English club to win the league four consecutive times. However, we have seen several clubs step up their game in the former season. Clubs such as Arsenal, Newcastle, Manchester United and even Tottenham have decent odds of stopping the conquest of the Citizens.
Relegations and Promotions
The number of teams in the 2023 Premier League season will remain the same and will count 20 teams. Three teams were relegated from the PL, and three times from Championship were promoted to the top league.
In the season behind us, we saw Leicester City, Leeds United, and Southampton depart from the highest league. They will be replaced by Burnley, Sheffield United, and Luton Town.
Sheffield United and Burnley are familiar with the top league However, this is going to be Luton’s first time in the Premier League. While Luton was in the top tier 32 years ago, it was not the Premier League we know today. So they are basically newbies in the campaign.
Fixtures, Starting Time, Format
You can watch the league announce the fixtures on the 15th of June, 2023. We will know then who the clubs will face in the first few fixtures of the season. The league will continue with the traditional format of playing a round-robin. Each team is to face another two times, once at home and once away.
The season will start on the 12th of August 2023, and will end on the 19th of May 2024. In this time span, you can enjoy 38 rounds of top-tier quality football. The majority of games are traditionally played on the weekend, with some exceptions in case of a rescheduled match.
Return of the Mid-Season Break
One thing that is different this season is the return of the mid-season break. The season will go on a small break in January. Specifically, the break will start on the 13th of January, and the season will return on the 20th of January.
As a solution to the congested schedule around the New Year and Christmas problem, the league applies the 48-hour rule. In summary, the league won’t make any club play two rounds within 48 hours of each other.
Transfer Windows
Traditionally, there will be two transfer windows, the summer and winter windows. The summer transfer period will open on the 14th of June and close on the 1st of September. Similarly, the winter transfer window is to open on the 1st of January, and close on the 1st of February 2024. The transfer windows of other leagues will start and close on similar dates, with slight variations.