West Ham will get a tournament bye once again meaning a first cup match in November ahead of an unprecedented season.
The 2022-23 campaign will set a number of precedents for West Ham and their fellow Premier League sides due to the first ever winter World Cup.
West Ham will learn their fixtures for the new Premier League season on June 16th. The campaign gets underway on August 6th and concludes on May 28th 2023.
As reported by Hammers News, West Ham must come through a two-legged play-off in August to qualify for the Europa Conference League proper.
The play-off round features 10 teams with the draw taking place on August 1st and the first and second legs played on August 18th and 25th.
As a result of their involvement in Europe, West Ham will get a tournament bye once again meaning a first cup match in November ahead of an unprecedented seasonn.
In a normal season West Ham would enter the Carabao Cup in the second round.
But teams competing in Europe get a bye in the Carabao Cup meaning West Ham – like last season – will not enter until the third round, which is being played on November 8-9 next season, two months later than usual.
West Ham have their last Premier League match for six weeks when the season pauses after the weekend of November 12-13 – the 16th round of matches – ahead of the call-up period for the World Cup beginning on Monday November 14.
The tournament begins a week later on November 21 and runs for a month, with the final set to take place on Sunday December 18.
West Ham will then be back in action on Boxing Day as the Premier League resumes until the end of May.
The Europa Conference League group stages begin on September 8 and are played in back-to-back weeks in order to ensure they finish on November 3.
The Carabao Cup second round bye helps as it removes a fixture from West Ham’s already hectic calendar.
But it means David Moyes faces a hugely demanding throng of matches from August to November.
Should the Hammers come through the two-legged play-off, they will be playing 16 Premier League matches, eight Europa Conference League games (including the qualifier) and a Carabao Cup third round match before the break for the World Cup.
That’s 25 games in three months – over eight matches per month!
Should West Ham qualify for the knockout stages of the Conference League, they begin on February 16 2023.
The Europa Conference League final will be on June 7 at the home of Slavia Prague, a stadium West Ham stars Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal will know well.