Coaches face hard questions as they map a season. How should players be managed to peak at the right moments? Can extended breaks in November and December be funded without harming long term results? Might a different kind of pre-season prove beneficial? If the squad is highly charged early on, can it still finish strong in the demanding closing weeks?
These are the kinds of considerations weighed by the Elche CF technical staff, led by Francisco and his assistants, along with the rest of the First Division coaching groups.
The 2022-2023 season follows an unusually balanced rhythm, featuring a 46-day pause between November and December due to the Qatar World Championship. Traditionally, World Cups occur in the summer, closing the season. This time, the tournament sits in the middle of the campaign, injecting uncertainty into planning.
Three months of competition precede the World Cup break. LaLiga starts this weekend and is set to resume after the World Cup, with fixtures arranged from mid-August through June. The calendar includes a final matchday before the international pause and a tight window to regroup as players head to Qatar from late November to mid-December. The timing means teams gain roughly one week to reset after the World Cup, a narrow window for evaluation and adjustments.
Plans also call for a 14-day break entering the mid-season phase, a period that could influence club trajectories across the table. Between September 19 and 27, another short pause follows the initial six league games, followed by selections for the final rounds of international competitions. The last domestic matches squeeze into a compact frame, giving coaches a pivotal period to assess form and strategy before the World Cup and the Christmas break.
As a result, the autumn-to-winter stretch tends to split into two blocks before the World Cup and the Christmas recess: a three-month window from mid-August to mid-November, and a six-month stretch from early January to early June. This distribution can shape two distinct seasonal shapes, potentially yielding two separate mini-campaigns in a single year, one running July through August and the other running November to December.
Francisco, now in his first year at Elche, emphasizes keeping players ready for every match. Yet the unusual preparation landscape requires careful calibration. The choice may come down to peak performance at the league’s start or sustaining momentum across a longer stretch that aligns with January through June. Typically, the exact matchmaking schedule begins to clarify by late August when the fixture list takes shape and training cycles can be aligned accordingly.
Throughout the season, the squad will navigate a winter lull and a Christmas break, followed by league play resuming at year’s end. The World Cup period marks a rare interruption in regular league duties, and teams must balance international duties with club commitments during the holidays. The calendar also hints at a King’s Cup entry for top division teams after regionals, with matches possible in November depending on yearly scheduling.
After the World Cup break ends, the season continues into late December and January, with plans to resume league fixtures and manage player load during the festive period. In late December, clubs anticipate a cluster of matches around New Year’s Eve and the start of a new calendar year, keeping competitive intensity high while safeguarding fitness and form. This approach helps the team stay aligned with league ambitions while respecting rest requirements for recovery and preparation.
By early January, the schedule tightens further. The league portion that follows is dense, allowing only a few short pauses for international duties. The overall structure points to two major, self-contained blocks within a single campaign, enabling strategic planning around peak performance windows and essential rest periods. The Elche staff and players must adapt to this rhythm, planning around known fixtures, potential international call-ups, and the realities of a long season.
For Francisco, the core challenge is balancing early-season intensity with a sustainable peak later in the year. Deciding whether to prioritize preparation for the season’s start or reserve energy for a prolonged campaign requires ongoing assessment of players’ health, fatigue, and readiness. Once the competition schedule is released, many uncertainties will be resolved, allowing more precise tuning of training loads, recovery routines, and tactical readiness.
In summary, this season’s cadence pushes a single team into two substantial blocks: a front-loaded phase from mid-August to mid-November and a back-loaded phase from January through June. The result is a potential split-season dynamic, where a summer-style peak may coincide with a winter-to-spring surge, depending on how the squad manages fatigue, form, and injuries. Francisco’s approach remains anchored in keeping the group day by day prepared for each match, while recognizing that the atypical calendar demands a flexible, responsive plan that can adapt as the schedule unfolds and the team moves toward decisive moments.