International Break 2026: Big Games by Region

Club football goes quiet for a fortnight and the national teams take over. The window runs from Monday 21 September to Tuesday 6 October 2026. FIFA has folded what used to be two short breaks, one in September and one in October, into a single window, so most teams get four games instead of two. The Premier League is back on Saturday 10 October, and La Liga returns the same weekend.

This page is our map of the window. It is organised by region, so you can jump to wherever your team plays, and every kick-off is given in IST as well as local time, because a lot of these games start well after midnight in India. Everything here was checked against the federations, UEFA, FIFA and ESPN on 21 September 2026. Where two sources disagreed on a time, we either say so or leave the time out.

If you only have a minute, read the next section. If you want detail on one game, the India v Brazil guide and the Nations League guide linked below go much deeper.

The short version

• England 2-3 Spain, Wembley, played 26/27 September. The Nations League rematch of the Euro 2024 final went to the world champions, with Spain coming from behind at Wembley.
• India 1-1 Panama, Bengaluru, played 25 September. Ryan Williams scored India's goal; Panama equalised through substitute Omar Valencia. India v Brazil, Kolkata, is next up on Saturday 3 October, 7:30 pm IST, then Uruguay on 6 October.
• Messi's farewell, Buenos Aires, Tuesday 6 October. Argentina host Benin, and Lionel Messi has been invited to say goodbye to the national team. He has not confirmed that he will play.
• New managers almost everywhere. Jürgen Klopp starts at Germany, Zinédine Zidane at France and Jorge Jesus at Portugal, and Diego Forlán is interim coach of Uruguay.
• Brazil without Neymar. He retired from international football after the World Cup defeat to Norway. Carlo Ancelotti takes an overhauled squad to Australia for two games, then to India.
• The Premier League returns on Saturday 10 October, with Liverpool v Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.

IST cheat sheet: the games to circle

Late-night European kick-offs fall on the next calendar day in India, so check the date in the first column and not just the time.

Europe: the Nations League takes over

Most of Europe's best teams are in League A of the Nations League, which is why the European part of this window feels more like a small tournament than a break. Sixteen teams sit in four groups of four, and four of the six matchdays fall inside this window. Our Nations League guide has every fixture with IST times. These are the four stories we would follow.

England 2-3 Spain, played 26/27 September. Spain came from behind at Wembley to win it, a repeat of their Euro 2024 final result. Thomas Tuchel's recalled Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold, now at Real Madrid, started in front of a sold-out crowd, but the world champions were too good on the night.

Germany 1-1 Netherlands, played 24 September — Jürgen Klopp's first game in charge ended level in Amsterdam. Klopp signed a four-year deal that runs to 2030 and named two squads for this window, 44 players in all, 16 of them uncapped.

France 1-0 Türkiye, played 25 September — Zinédine Zidane's first game as France coach was a narrow away win. His squad, named on 18 September, left out 11 players from the World Cup run; William Saliba, Marcus Thuram and Jean-Philippe Mateta were injured and Aurélien Tchouaméni was rested. Kylian Mbappé, the Golden Boot winner with 10 goals, started.

Portugal 1-0 Wales, played 24 September — Jorge Jesus's first game in charge of the Nations League holders, who beat Spain on penalties in the 2025 final. His 25-man squad included Cristiano Ronaldo, who is 41 and has said this summer was his last World Cup but has not confirmed whether he will retire from the national team.

South America: Messi's goodbye, Brazil on tour

Every CONMEBOL side is playing friendlies this window, and several of them are travelling a long way to do it.

Argentina finished the World Cup as runners-up, beaten 1-0 in extra time by Spain, and play three friendlies at home: Bolivia in Córdoba on 30 September, then Burkina Faso and Benin in Buenos Aires on 3 and 6 October. The last one is the story. Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the national team earlier this month, yet Lionel Scaloni still named him in the squad. Reports say Messi accepted an invitation to the Benin game and that the federation plans to invite the 2022 World Cup winners and their families to watch a farewell. As of 21 September he has not confirmed whether he will play. We could not find published kick-off times for the Argentina games, so we have left them out.

Brazil are on tour. Carlo Ancelotti's first game since the World Cup exit was a flat 1-1 draw away to Australia in Townsville on 25 September, but the overhauled squad found form in Brisbane four days later, winning a six-goal thriller 4-2 with Vinícius Júnior among the scorers. They now fly to India for 3 October, with the 26-man squad confirmed, only one change since announcement: João Pedro ruled out injured, replaced by Gabriel Martinelli. Neymar has retired after the 2-1 defeat to Norway in the round of 16, and Alisson, Casemiro, Ederson and Danilo are also missing. Vinícius Júnior, Raphinha, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães, Bruno Guimarães and Endrick are in.

Uruguay may be the biggest travellers of the window: beaten 3-1 by Japan in Miyagi on 24 September, then a 4-1 win over South Korea in Seoul on 28 September (Darwin Núñez scored twice), before India on 6 October. Diego Forlán is interim coach after Marcelo Bielsa left following a group-stage exit at the World Cup.

Colombia play Mexico in Baltimore on 26 September, Paraguay in Harrison, New Jersey on 2 October and Peru in Miami on 6 October. They went out of the World Cup on penalties against Switzerland in the round of 16, after a 0-0 draw.

Asia and Oceania: India's big week

India play three World Cup nations in twelve days: Panama in Bengaluru on 25 September, Brazil in Kolkata on 3 October and Uruguay in Kolkata on 6 October. India opened with a 1-1 draw against Panama, Ryan Williams scoring the India goal. All three kick off at 7:30 pm IST according to the District ticket pages, and all three are on Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV. Our India v Brazil guide has the squads, tickets and history.

Japan beat Uruguay 3-1 in Miyagi on 24 September — their first game there in 13 years, after a 4-2 win in the prefecture in 2013 — and host Venezuela in Hiroshima on 28 September, then play the Kirin Cup Soccer in Yokohama on 1 October and Tokyo on 5 October against a field that includes Ecuador, New Zealand and Panama.

South Korea have an interim coach, Roberto Moreno, after Hong Myung-bo resigned at the end of June following the World Cup group-stage exit. They beat Ecuador 3-0 in Suwon on 24 September, and play Uruguay in Seoul on 28 September, Venezuela in Ulsan on 2 October and Uzbekistan in Yongin on 6 October. All four kick off at 8 pm local time, which is 4:30 pm IST.

Australia held Brazil 1-1 at home in Townsville on 25 September. They play Brazil again in Brisbane on 29 September, also 3:30 pm IST.

North and Central America

The three World Cup hosts all went out in the round of 16. Canada lost 3-0 to Morocco, Mexico lost 3-2 to England at the Azteca and the USA lost 4-1 to Belgium, so these games are partly about rebuilding at home.

The USA v Mexico game is billed at 7 pm local time in Arizona on Saturday 3 October, which works out at about 7:30 am IST on Sunday 4 October.

• USA 4-1 Peru, Orlando, 26 September. Next: Chile in St. Louis on 29 September, Mexico in Glendale, Arizona on 3 October and Canada in St. Paul, Minnesota on 6 October.
• Mexico 1-1 Colombia, Baltimore, 26 September. Next: Peru in Harrison, New Jersey on 29 September, the USA in Glendale on 3 October and Chile at the Los Angeles Coliseum on 6 October.
• Canada 1-0 Chile, Toronto, 26 September. Next: Peru in Montréal on 3 October and the USA in St. Paul on 6 October.

Africa: friendlies alongside qualifiers

Some African teams are also playing 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in the same window, so the friendlies below are one half of a busy fortnight.

• Ivory Coast v Cameroon, Abidjan, Saturday 3 October, 7 pm local.
• Tunisia v Mali, Saturday 3 October.
• Morocco v Ghana, Tangier, Sunday 4 October.
• Egypt v South Africa, Cairo, Sunday 4 October, 9 pm local.
• Senegal v Comoros, Marseille, Sunday 4 October. It is the first meeting between the two countries.

Five World Cup facts to bring to the sofa

• Spain won the final 1-0 after extra time, and Argentina played the last stretch with ten men after Enzo Fernández was sent off in the 84th minute.
• For the first time since FIFA started ranking teams in 1992, the top four (Spain, Argentina, France and England) all reached the semi-finals.
• England beat France 6-4 in the third-place game, a ten-goal match in which Bukayo Saka scored a hat-trick and England led 4-0 at half-time.
• Brazil's exit to Norway, with Erling Haaland scoring twice, was their earliest at a World Cup since 1990.
• Kylian Mbappé won the Golden Boot with 10 goals, and became the first player to win it at two World Cups.

After the break: the Premier League and La Liga return

Both leagues restart on the weekend of 10 October. Here are the games we already have confirmed times for.

There are no La Liga games on the weekends of 26 September and 3 October. If you play fantasy football, the Gameweek Fantasy squad you set now will be the one that faces Matchweek 6.

How we checked this page

We treat every time and every fact as something a reader might act on, so each one needs two independent sources before it goes in.

• Nations League dates, kick-offs and groups come from UEFA.com and were matched line by line against the league pages on Wikipedia and ESPN's fixture feed. We found no differences.
• India's fixtures, squad and dates come from the All India Football Federation. The 7:30 pm IST kick-off comes from District, the ticketing partner, and matches ESPN. Some early reports said 7 pm.
• Other friendlies come from national federations, JFA for Japan, England Football for England, US Soccer for the USA and so on, and were cross-checked against ESPN. When ESPN's time looked like a placeholder, we left the time out.
• World Cup results were checked against FIFA, ESPN, Sky Sports, CNN, Al Jazeera and Wikipedia.
• Managers and squads are as announced on 18 to 19 September. Squads change before kick-off, so treat named players as likely, not certain.