Scotland v Ukraine got the first international break of 2022/23 underway on Wednesday evening but the action starts in earnest on Thursday, with over 200 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players in action for their countries over the next week.
It’s also the last international break before the World Cup in November, so the nations who have qualified for Qatar 2022 will be putting the final touches on their pre-tournament preparations.
Most countries are playing twice over this window, although a handful of nations have a triple-header of games to squeeze in.
ANY LATE RETURNEES?
The good news: there are no international fixtures taking place in the early hours of next Thursday morning (something we occasionally saw in previous Covid-affected seasons) and a number of the Premier League players who are representing countries from South America and Africa will actually be contesting friendlies in Europe – so there will be a lot fewer long-haul flights back/late returns to England as a result.
Here’s a cherry-picked selection of which key non-European countries are playing where and when:
| Country | Players | Matches being played in… |
| Argentina | E. Martinez, Mac Allister, Alvarez, L. Martinez, Romero | USA (Sep 24 + 28) |
| Brazil | Thiago Silva, Alisson, Fabinho, Firmino, Ederson, Antony, Casemiro, Fred, Guimaraes, Lodi, Richarlison, Paqueta | France (Sep 23 + 27) |
| Colombia | Lerma, Sinisterra, Diaz, Sanchez | USA (Sep 25 + 28) |
| Egypt | Salah | Egypt (Sep 23 + 27) |
| Ivory Coast | Zaha, Aurier, Boly, Cornet | France (Sep 24 + 27) |
| Jamaica | Bailey, Lowe, DeCordova-Reid, Antonio | USA (Sep 28) |
| Senegal | Koulibaly, Gueye, N. Mendy, Niakhate, Kouyate, Sarr | France + Slovakia (Sep 24 + 27) |
| South Korea | Son, Hwang | South Korea (Sep 23 + 27) |
| Uruguay | Darwin, Pellistri, Bentancur | Austria + Slovakia (Sep 23 + 27) |
The last returnees will be those players representing Argentina, Colombia and Jamaica.
Luis Diaz (£8.2m), Cristian Romero (£4.9m) and Davinson Sanchez (£4.4m) are among the names who are in action in the United States in the early hours of Wednesday morning. This trio then resume domestic duties on Saturday, with Spurs centre-halves Romero and Sanchez involved in the lunchtime kick-off against north London rivals Arsenal.
Leon Bailey (£4.7m), Luis Sinisterra (£6.5m), Lisandro Martinez (£4.5m) and Julian Alvarez (£6.2m) are also playing across the Atlantic but have Premier League matches on the Sunday of Gameweek 9, so enjoy an extra recovery day.
Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) and Son Heung-min (£11.7m) are both off back to their homelands in Egypt and South Korea, rounding off their international commitments with friendlies on Tuesday.
NOTABLE OMISSIONS
Aside from sidelined players like Andrew Robertson (£6.7m) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.1m), whose injuries render them unavailable for selection, there are some welcome snubs and rests for a number of key FPL assets over this international fortnight.
Arsenal’s trio of Brazilians, Gabriel Jesus (£8.1m), Gabriel Magalhaes (£5.1m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.6m), were overlooked by national team coach Tite, while Ben White (£4.5m) was also omitted from Gareth Southgate’s squad list.
One-cap wonder Marc Cucurella (£5.2m) is one of the few Chelsea regulars not away on international duty meanwhile, so he’ll enjoy an extended reunion with Graham Potter over this two-week hiatus.
Emerson Royal (£5.1m) is the only one of Spurs’ many wing-backs who aren’t away with their country, meanwhile, perhaps putting him in pole position for a starting spot in the Gameweek 9 clash with Arsenal given the early kick-off time.
James Maddison (£7.9m), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£5.0m), James Justin (£4.3m) and Harvey Barnes (£6.9m) all have two weeks off ahead of Leicester’s appealing-looking home fixture against Nottingham Forest, too.
Well-owned midfielders Andreas Pereira (£4.6m) and Pascal Gross (£6.0m) also have their feet up this fortnight.
WITHDRAWN DUE TO INJURY/ILLNESS
- Emmanuel Dennis – Nottingham Forest/England under-21s
- Lucas Digne – Aston Villa/France
- Martin Dubravka – Manchester United/Slovakia
- Morgan Gibbs-White – Nottingham Forest/England under-21s
- Alexander Isak – Newcastle United/Sweden
- Naby Keita – Liverpool/Guinea
- Keane Lewis-Potter – Brentford/England under-21s
- Hugo Lloris – Tottenham Hotspur/France
- Edouard Mendy – Senegal/Chelsea
You can read up on these withdrawals in more detail in our latest injury news round-up.
WHEN FPL PLAYERS ARE IN ACTION: A CLUB-BY-CLUB GUIDE
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