Football: Clubs vote for a late start

Premiership clubs have voted to start next season later than either the Football Association, who were conscious of England's World Cup preparations, or their own executive had been in favour of.

The FA backed the season starting on August 4 or August 11 to ensure extra preparation time ahead of England's friendly with Holland on August 15 and their vital World Cup qualifier in Germany on September 1.

However, while the Premier League executive's favoured option was August 11, the eventual majority decision taken by the clubs was for August 18.

That is almost exactly the same as this season, which began on August 19 in the Premiership, with the Charity Shield taking place the weekend before.

However, it does little to help Sven-Goran Eriksson ahead of the qualifier in Munich on which England's World Cup hopes could rest.

Only Manchester United and Liverpool voted in favour of August 4 after hearing various submissions, including one by FA chief executive Adam Crozier, at the chairmen's meeting earlier this week.

Having been given three options, seven clubs are understood to have supported the August 11 date - the same as the Football League - while 11 of them are believed to have been in favour of August 18.

It is thought several clubs were concerned at the possibility of small crowds in the first half of August, when many fans are still away on holiday, as well as being conscious of the potential for football to reach saturation point.

Although a longer summer break will give players some much-needed recuperation, they will have to fit matches into a shorter period of time than an earlier start date may have allowed.

The finishing point for the domestic season has still not been settled, however.

The early kick-off to the 2002 World Cup at the beginning of June means there will be relatively little time for England to adapt to conditions in Japan and South Korea if they were to qualify.

Along with other European countries, the FA are lobbying FIFA to ensure that players can be retained by their clubs for one more day next season until after May 18.

The FA are keen for the FA Cup final, which could then be held on May 18, to return to being the final game of the domestic season, barring the play-offs.

They expect to hear in about six weeks whether FIFA will relax their 14-day international release date for the tournament.

The FA Cup final would otherwise almost certainly have to be moved forward by a week - further condensing the season.