The FIFA International Match Calendar (sometimes abbreviated as the FIFA Calendar) is an outline agreement between FIFA, the six continental association football confederations, the European Club Association, and FIFPro, which sets out which dates can be used for "official" and "friendly" international matches. Individual periods of these dates are commonly referred to as "international breaks". FIFA insists that official and friendly matches within designated breaks take precedence over domestic matches, so clubs are required to release players to go play with their national teams, while international friendlies that take place outside the designated dates do not take precedence, and clubs may retain players.

The current dates are within five windows: in March, June, July, September-October, and November (men) and February-March, April, June, October, and November-December (women). The match calendar also determines when international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, Summer Olympics, AFC Asian Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, Copa América, CONCACAF Gold Cup, OFC Nations Cup, and UEFA European Championship can take place. These competitions, which can last for several weeks, often occur during the summer (June-July) break when most club leagues are not playing. But these competitions can occur at other times of year as well, in which case they sometimes conflict with club games and cause players to be absent from their clubs; typically such breaks apply only to specific continental competitions rather than all national teams worldwide, so outside that continent, relatively few players are absent from any one club.

Official matches have a release period of four days, which means that players can take up to four days away from club duties to partake in national team duties. Because most breaks include 2-3 games, players take at least 8-12 days away from their clubs. If a player participates in an official match on a different continent from their club's, the release period is five days. Friendly matches are deemed less important and the release period is 48 hours.

The calendar was first used during 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Upcoming match windows Men's International Match Calendar

Dates Matches or tournaments9–17 November 2026 27 January – 5 February 2027 2027 AFC Asian Cup22–30 March 2027 27–15 June 2027 219 June – 17 July 2027 2027 Africa Cup of NationsJune – July 2027 2027 CONCACAF Gold Cup20 September – 5 October 2027 48–16 November 2027 220–28 March 2028 229 May – 6 June 2028 2June – July 2028 2028 Africa Cup of Nations2028 Copa América2028 OFC Men's Nations CupUEFA Euro 202818 September – 3 October 2028 413–21 November 2028 219–27 March 2029 24–12 June 2029 2June – July 2029 2029 CONCACAF Gold Cup24 September – 9 October 2029 412–20 November 2029 218–26 March 2030 23–11 June 2030 2June – July 2030 2030 FIFA World Cup23 September – 8 October 2030 411–19 November 2030 2

Women's International Match Calendar Starting in 2026, there are two types of breaks, I and II. Players are released to national associations either from Monday of one week to Tuesday night of the following week (Type I, up to two matches) or from Tuesday of one week to Saturday night of the following week (Type II, up to three matches). Prior to that in 2025, players were released to national associations from Monday to either Tuesday night (Type I), Wednesday night (Type II), or Saturday night (Type III) of the following week. Dates Window type Number of matches5–13 October 2026 Type I 224 November – 5 December 2026 Type II 323 February – 6 March 2027 Type II 313–24 April 2027 Type II 37–15 June 2027 Type I 224 June – 25 July 2027 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup4–12 October 2027 Type I 223 November – 4 December 2027 Type II 321 February – 2 April 2028 Blocked period (except UEFA)22 February – 4 March 2028 Type II 34–15 April 2028 Type II 329 May – 6 June 2028 Type I 210–30 July 2028 Women's Olympic Football Tournament2–10 October 2028 Type I 221 November – 2 December 2028 Type II 322 January – 4 March 2029 Blocked period (except UEFA)20 February – 3 March 2029 Type II 310–21 April 2029 Type II 3June 2029 Type I 24 June – 29 July 2029 Blocked period15–23 October 2029 Type I 227 November – 8 December 2029 Type II 3

Notes

References

External links FIFA Calendars