Guardiola’s City facing fixtures marathon chasing seven trophies

Compared to recent seasons, the one just ended was one of the busiest for Manchester City - and next season, they will be even busier. From the 2022/23 campaign got underway for City, with the Community Shield against Liverpool at Wembley back in July to winning the Champions League, and with it, the treble, last weekend, Guardiola’s team played a total of 61 games. Southampton brought their EFL Carabao Cup campaign to a halt at the quarter final stage but otherwise, City went all the way in every tournament they were competing in.

Towards the tail end of last season, Guardiola openly admitted that he, his players, his staff, were exhausted but added that he is resigned to the fact that a packed fixtures calendar is out of his control. “I don’t understand it, but I don’t want to fight it anymore,” the manager told reporters in mid-May. “We have to adapt, it doesn’t matter. I won’t fight anymore about the schedules - it is what it is. It’s not frustrating, it is what it is, how many times can we comment on that?”

Seven trophies in play

The 2023/24 season is going to be a long slog for the English and European champions. City will be involved in seven competitions - and Guardiola himself will be in the unique position of being able to challenge for the septuple - a feat no club has managed in history anywhere in the world. Only two managers have won six trophies in the same season, the Catalan coach is one of them (Hansi Flick if the other).

For City, the fixtures marathon (and first chance to win silverware) gets underway on 6 August with the FA Community Shield against Arsenal, followed by their opening game of the Premier League season, away against recently-promoted Burnley on Friday 11th. Five days later, City will be in Athens for the UEFA Super Cup final against Sevilla - the first major trophy in play.

Some of the dates for the new season’s competitions have been released while others are still pending. On the domestic front, the Premier League will begin on the weekend of 12 August and conclude on 19 May 2024. City will enter the EFL Carabao Cup at the Third Round stage in late September. City’s defence of the FA Cup will begin in the New Year, with Third Round ties pencilled in for the weekend of 6/7 January 2024.

The 2023/24 Champions League dates are out - the group stage kicks off on 19/20 September and will end on 12/13 December. It all starts getting a bit congested and complicated during the run-up to Christmas when City will be in Saudi Arabia contesting the Club World Cup. The tournament starts on 12 December and reaches its conclusion with the final on Friday 22 December. As European champions, City enter directly at the semi-final stage which means they will likely play their first match on Tuesday 19th.

The problem with the Club World Cup, as Real Madrid know very well from their own experience, is that it interferes with everything else that’s going on. In City’s case that means that new dates will need to be found to shoehorn at least two Premier League games and possibly a Carabao Cup tie as well.

With such a congested fixtures list, in which City will have just two periods free of mid-week football, Guardiola might want to shore up his squad with some strategic signings this summer before a whistle stop campaign in which their stamina will be tested to the limit.