International Break Preview: Klopp, Xavi and Zidane all start their new eras
Club football will be going quiet for sixteen days, which sounds like a punishment but this is actually the most interesting international break in years. FIFA has merged the old September and October breaks into a single block running from 21 September to 6 October, so national teams play up to four matches instead of the usual two. The Premier League stopped after matchweek five and does not return until 10 October.
It is also the first football of any consequence since the World Cup, and the summer that followed produced the biggest managerial clear-out international football has seen. Seventeen countries changed head coach. Several of the new appointments are among the most famous names in the sport, and almost all of them take charge of a competitive fixture for the first time in the next ten days.
Here is what is worth staying in for.
International break is usually annoying – but this one looks good
Opening night of the international break belongs to Klopp and Xavi
Amsterdam, Thursday. Jürgen Klopp takes charge of Germany for the first time, away to a Netherlands side now coached by Xavi, their first foreign manager since 1978. Neither has worked in international football before. Both were hired to replace an identity rather than tidy one up: Klopp arrives after Julian Nagelsmann resigned following a round-of-32 exit on penalties to Paraguay, having signed a deal to 2030 that required the German federation to pay compensation for a coach for the first time in its history. Xavi replaced Ronald Koeman with a promise of possession football and has the squad to attempt it.
🇩🇪 YOUNES EBNOUTALIB SET FOR HIS GERMANY DEBUT!
— 365Scores (@365Scores) September 23, 2026
Jürgen Klopp has handed the Eintracht Frankfurt striker his first Germany call-up after a sensational start to the season. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/euA9aEGvBj
It is a ludicrous fixture to hand two debutants, and the Nations League has scheduled it before anything else. Serbia against Greece follows in the same group, with Greece playing their first match in League A after coming through the play-offs.
Zidane’s France, Mancini’s Italy and a Belgian debut
Friday brings the rest of the new class. Türkiye host France in Zinédine Zidane’s first match as Didier Deschamps’s successor, and he has not eased himself in gently: eleven of the World Cup squad have been left out, N’Golo Kanté has retired from international football, and Guillaume Restes takes the goalkeeper’s shirt. Kylian Mbappé, Eduardo Camavinga, Rayan Cherki and Adrien Rabiot stay. Lucas and Theo Hernández, Lucas Digne, Malo Gusto and Maghnes Akliouche do not, and none of those omissions were explained by injury.
Italy against Belgium on the same night sets Roberto Mancini’s second spell in charge of the Azzurri against Mark van Bommel’s opening game with Belgium, who sacked nobody and simply let Rudi García’s contract run out. The two sides share a group with France and Türkiye, which makes it the most punishing quartet in the competition.
England v Spain is the big ticket
Saturday at Wembley, and it is a Euro 2024 final rematch with the roles slightly altered. Spain arrive as world champions. England arrive as the team that took bronze this summer under Thomas Tuchel, which is progress by most measures and still felt like a near miss.
Tuchel named 27 players this international break and then lost five of them on Monday, with Cole Palmer, Declan Rice, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Tino Livramento all withdrawing. Trent Alexander-Arnold is back in, reunited with Jude Bellingham, and there are returns for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Hall, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Alex Scott and Rio Ngumoha.
England are in League A having won their League B group last time out, and they face Spain, Czechia and Croatia home and away across this window and November. Spain have won six of the nine meetings between the sides since 2000.
Portugal defend, Wales arrive, Norway bring Haaland
Group A4 is the quietly excellent one. Portugal begin the international break with a defence of a trophy they are the only country to have won twice, and they open at home to Wales, who are back in League A for the first time in years. Norway play Denmark on the same evening, which puts Erling Haaland on the pitch in a competition where he is already the all-time leading scorer with 19 goals.
Four games each for the home nations
Scotland start a new era of their own. Sébastien Pocognoli, the 39-year-old Belgian appointed after Steve Clarke stepped down following World Cup elimination, named his first squad last week and travels to Slovenia on Saturday before hosting Switzerland at Hampden three days later. Scott McTominay is absent as he recovers from heart surgery, Lawrence Shankland has had hamstring surgery, and Billy Gilmour is back after the knee injury that cost him the World Cup. Uncapped striker Robbie Ure comes in.
Northern Ireland open away to Georgia in League B, and the Republic of Ireland travel to Kosovo in a group that also contains Austria and Israel. Every one of them plays four times before 6 October, which for squads of this size is a genuine test of depth rather than a scheduling quirk.
Africa’s qualifiers start now as well
AFCON 2027 qualifying opened on Monday and produces its blockbuster on Thursday, when Ivory Coast face Ghana. That is Hervé Renard, back for a second spell with the Elephants more than a decade after winning the tournament with them, against Carlos Queiroz, back in charge of Ghana. Senegal begin life under Patrick Vieira, his first job in international management, at home to Mozambique and without the injured Sadio Mané. Egypt host Angola, Algeria play Zambia, and South Africa meet Guinea on Saturday. Morocco start without Achraf Hakimi, who is suspended for the first two rounds.
The finals go to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda from 19 June to 17 July 2027, the first time the tournament has been staged in East Africa in 51 years. Qualifying runs across this window, November and next March.
Everywhere else, it is friendly season
South American sides have no World Cup qualifiers to play, so the calendar has been filled creatively. Brazil face Australia twice in four days before travelling to Kolkata to play India, a fixture with as much commercial logic behind it as sporting. Mexico have lined up Colombia, Peru, the United States and Chile, with the USA and Mexico already through to the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-finals and therefore free to arrange what they like. Smaller CONCACAF nations play the group stage proper. Asian qualifying for the 2027 Asian Cup has finished, so those teams use the window to prepare for January, while the eight Arabian Peninsula sides contest the Arabian Gulf Cup.
LA SCALONETA CONTINUES UNTIL 2030?! 🇦🇷 👑
— 365Scores (@365Scores) September 23, 2026
The Argentine Football Association has officially submitted a major long-term contract extension to Lionel Scaloni! 🚨
Should Scaloni sign the deal and build the next generation of La Albiceleste or go in another direction? 👇 pic.twitter.com/jLPJoWsOqM
FAQs
When does the international break end?
It runs from 21 September to 6 October 2026. The Premier League returns on the weekend of 10 October with matchweek six.
Why is this international break longer than usual?
FIFA has combined the old September and October windows into one 16-day period as part of its international match calendar through 2030, allowing teams to play up to four fixtures instead of two.
When is England v Spain?
In the first week of the international break, on Saturday 26 September, 7.45pm at Wembley, in Nations League Group A3. England then play Czechia away on 29 September, Croatia away in Rijeka on 3 October and Czechia at Wembley on 6 October.
Which national teams have new managers?
Among others, Germany (Jürgen Klopp), France (Zinédine Zidane), the Netherlands (Xavi), Italy (Roberto Mancini), Belgium (Mark van Bommel), Portugal (Jorge Jesus), Scotland (Sébastien Pocognoli), Senegal (Patrick Vieira) and Ivory Coast (Hervé Renard).
Who are the Nations League holders?
Portugal, who won the 2025 edition to become the first two-time winners of the competition.
When is AFCON 2027 and who is hosting?
Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda co-host from 19 June to 17 July 2027. Qualifying began on 21 September 2026 and continues through November and March.
By Nicky Helfgott – NickyHelfgott1 on X (Twitter)
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