England National team Schedule

Felipe Dana/Associated Press

The English Premier League's holiday schedule is arguably the best part of the season. The glut of fixtures over the festive period is great for fans, who can watch up to 30 matches in seven days. However, it could be one of the reasons for the England national team's underachievement in international tournaments.

Three games over the course of a week is torturous for any club. It leads to fatigue and injury. Rotation helps, but some teams do not possess the quality depth of a Manchester City.

Every European club has to deal with its domestic league, but England has three competitions on home soil. France does as well, but teams have the winter break to recover. That's not even accounting for sides that participate in the Champions League, Europa League or other international tournaments.

Michel Euler/Associated Press/Associated Press

Most of France's 1998 World Cup squad was based in France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Every other Frenchman played their club football in France, Italy, Germany or Spain. All four leagues have winter breaks for at least two weeks.

Italy's 2006 World Cup squad was entirely made up of Serie A players, who were definitely fitter than others in that tournament.

Spain's teams between 2008 and 2012 had a handful of English-based players, most notably Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas, who started a fair amount of matches during the run of European Championship and World Cup success. On the other hand, the core of those teams played for Barcelona.

Germany had four Premier League players in their 2014 squad. However, Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Andre Schurrle were the only members from English clubs that participated in the majority of the matches.

The Bundesliga's winter break is six weeks long this season. Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1 halted just before Christmas and will resume a few days after New Year's Day.

That extra rest allows players to recover from niggling injuries and to regain fitness.

Matches played by teams in top 5 leagues 2013/14

Team

League

Total Matches

League Matches

Domestic Cup Matches

European Matches

Manchester City

Premier League

56

38

11

8

Liverpool

Premier League

43

38

5

N/A

Chelsea

Premier League

56

38

6

12

Arsenal

Premier League

56

38

8

10

Juventus

Serie A

47

38

3

6

Roma

Serie A

42

38

4

N/A

Napoli

Serie A

53

38

5

10

Atletico Madrid

La Liga

62

38

11

13

Barcelona

La Liga

59

38

11

10

Real Madrid

La Liga

60

38

9

13

Athletic Bilbao

La Liga

44

38

6

N/A

Bayern Munich

Bundesliga

53

34

7

12

Borussia Dortmund

Bundesliga

51

34

7

10

Schalke

Bundesliga

47

34

3

10

Bayer Leverkusen

Bundesliga

46

34

4

8

PSG

Ligue 1

54

38

6

10

Monaco

Ligue 1

44

38

6

N/A

Lille

Ligue 1

43

38

5

N/A

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