GAME TIME

The knock-on effect of the first ever mid-season World Cup in Qatar will be keenly felt by PSL clubs. What does the future hold? 

- Mo Allie

After a two-month break that ends on December 30, South African teams will, for the first time since the inception of the PSL in 1996, play on New Year's Eve.

Unlike in the past, when there was a traditional two-week break over the festive season, clubs will have to contend with the challenge of having to play over the holiday period this season in order to make up for lost time after a two-month break for the World Cup in Qatar.

By the time the clubs resume action, they will have played either 12 or 13 games, a handful fewer than the 15 they would have played by the start of the new year in other seasons. The difference is therefore not too stark.

Although the timing is different on this occasion, the PSL has become used to factoring in six-week breaks enforced by the biennial Africa Cup of Nations, which has traditionally taken place in the early months of the new year.