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 v Spain, Wembley, Saturday 26 September. This is a UEFA Nations League game, not a friendly. It is a rematch of the Euro 2024 final, and Spain arrive as world champions. Kick-off is 00:15 IST on Sunday 27 September.
• India v Brazil, Kolkata, Saturday 3 October, 7:30 pm IST. The first meeting between the two senior men's teams. India also play Panama on 25 September and 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 v Spain, 26 September. Spain beat England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin, then won the World Cup in July, 1-0 after extra time against Argentina, with Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute. England finished third at the World Cup after a 6-4 win over France in the third-place game, and this is their first match since. Thomas Tuchel has named a 27-man squad that brings back Cole Palmer and includes Trent Alexander-Arnold, now at Real Madrid. England Football says Wembley is sold out.

Germany under Klopp, 24 September. Julian Nagelsmann resigned after Germany went out of the World Cup in the round of 32, on penalties to Paraguay. Jürgen 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. The first game is in Amsterdam against the Netherlands.

France under Zidane, 25 September. Zinédine Zidane took over from Didier Deschamps, who left after France reached the World Cup semi-final. His first squad, named on 18 September, leaves out 11 players from the World Cup run. William Saliba, Marcus Thuram and Jean-Philippe Mateta are injured and Aurélien Tchouaméni was left out as a precaution. Kylian Mbappé, the Golden Boot winner with 10 goals, is in. The opener is away to Türkiye.

Portugal and Ronaldo, 24 September. Portugal are the Nations League holders after beating Spain on penalties in the 2025 final. Jorge Jesus has named 25 players for his first squad, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who is 41. Ronaldo has said this summer was his last World Cup but has not said whether he will retire from the national team. Jesus says playing time will depend on form.

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 squad since the World Cup exit plays Australia twice, in Townsville on 25 September (8 pm local, 3:30 pm IST) and in Brisbane on 29 September (3:30 pm IST), then flies to India. Neymar has retired after the 2-1 defeat to Norway in the round of 16, and Alisson, Casemiro and Fabinho are also missing. Vinícius Júnior, Raphinha, Marquinhos, Gabriel Magalhães and Endrick are in.

Uruguay may be the biggest travellers of the window: Japan on 24 September, South Korea on 28 September, then 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. 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 host Uruguay in Miyagi on 24 September (7:05 pm local, 3:35 pm IST) and 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. The Miyagi game is Uruguay's first there in 13 years. They last played in the prefecture in 2013 and won 4-2.

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 play four home games: Ecuador in Suwon on 24 September, 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 get Brazil twice at home, in Townsville and Brisbane, both at 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: Peru in Orlando on 26 September, Chile in St. Louis on 29 September, Mexico in Glendale, Arizona on 3 October and Canada in St. Paul, Minnesota on 6 October.
• Mexico: Colombia in Baltimore on 26 September, 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: Chile in Toronto on 26 September, 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.