Championship 2022/23: When does the season start? What are the key dates? When’s the World Cup? | Football News

As the countdown to the start of the 2022/23 Sky Bet EFL season continues, here is everything you need to know ahead of a unique campaign that will be punctuated by the first winter World Cup.

When does the Sky Bet EFL season start?

The Championship, League One and League Two seasons will begin on the weekend of July 30. This is one week earlier than the 2021/22 campaign started, and means teams will have a 12-week break between the seasons.

However, the Championship will take a break in the middle of the season to accommodate a winter World Cup for the first time

As a result, the fixtures taking over the weekend of November 12/13 will be the final ones before players are called up by their countries for the tournament travel to Qatar.

The Championship will then resume on Saturday December 10, eight days before the World Cup final, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday December 18.

League One and League Two will continue as planned throughout the tournament, though fixtures may be postponed depending on player involvement in the World Cup.

All three divisions are currently set to conclude on Saturday May 6 2023.

Though the semi-final dates will be finalised after the end of the regular season, the play-off final dates have also been confirmed.

The League Two final will take place on Saturday May 27, the League One final will take place on Sunday May 28 and the Championship will take place on Monday May 29.

When are the fixtures going to be released?

The 2022/23 fixtures will be released at 9am on Thursday June 23 2023, one week after the Premier League fixture list is revealed.

When does the transfer window open?

Championship clubs have officially been able to register new players since Friday June 10.

The transfer window will remain open for just under 12 weeks before closing on Thursday September 1.

You can keep up to date with the transfer window on Sky Sports with our dedicated Transfer Centre blog, and catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on Sky Sports News.

New season, new kits

With a new season comes the release of a plethora of new kits, all of which are detailed here.

What about the domestic cup competitions?

The FA Cup third round will take place on the weekend of January 8/9 – the same time as in the 2021/22 season – but the final will take place three weeks later on Saturday June 3.

The Carabao Cup begins during the week commencing August 10, with round two a fortnight later and round three during the week commencing November 9. The final will be held at Wembley Stadium on Sunday February 26.

The Papa John’s Trophy begins with the first group games on the week commencing August 31. The quarter-finals take place week commencing January 11, the semi-finals during the week commencing February 1 and the final will also be held at Wembley on Sunday March 19 2023.