Thomas Tuchel calls on FIFA to scrap next international window as England boss fears affects of Club World Cup | OneFootball

A number of England stars are set to be involved in the revamped tournament that launches this summer

New England head coach Thomas Tuchel has called for FIFA to scrap the June international window, saying it creates "an awkward period" for players after the end of the domestic season and is contributing to welfare concerns.

Tuchel's next England games will be the World Cup qualifier in Andorra and friendly against Senegal at the City Ground on June 7 and 10, respectively, after the German began his tenure with back-to-back qualifying wins over Albania and Latvia at Wembley.

The fixtures fall days before the start of FIFA's controversial new 32-team Club World Cup, which will begin on June 14 and run for a month in the USA.

Chelsea and Manchester City are the Premier League's representatives, while Harry Kane's Bayern Munich and Jude Bellingham's Real Madrid are among the other European clubs involved.

England will be allowed to call-up players involved in the Club World Cup for their June fixtures, with the likes of Kane, Bellingham, Phil Foden and Reece James required to be in the US three days before their club's opening game.

Asked his views on the schedule and the advent of FIFA's new tournament, Tuchel said he was less concerned about the volume of matches but the space between competitions for his players.

"I am just worried about the pause of the players," Tuchel said. "I am not so concerned about the amount of games the players play in total. I am more concerned that they never have a real break of three to four weeks.

"Maybe they have three weeks holiday but maybe after five days they play another competition. That’s the problem.

"They should have a minimum [of] three or three-and-a-half weeks of preparation and then it would be better for everyone.

England beat Latvia to make it two wins from two under Thomas Tuchel

The FA via Getty Images

"In general, being a club coach or international coach, the FIFA June window is, I think, debatable if it makes sense.

"Not everyone plays a Champions League Final or a club final so there is this awkward period for a player.

"They have ten or 14 days break, then they go to internationals, then they give you them a little bit of holiday but they think, 'Other players are on holiday. I need to come back. I can’t enjoy my two weeks because I need to do individually and then I go suddenly to international camp.'

"So the June window is not ideal for anyone, especially the players. But it's there.

"I think it's FIFA who can maybe align the calendar and maybe find a gap where we put this window somewhere else to open the window for the better of the players."

Meanwhile, Tuchel has insisted that Harry Maguire remains an important player for England, despite overlooking the Manchester United centre-half for his first squad.

Tuchel called up Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill and uncapped pair Dan Burn and Jarell Quansah ahead of Maguire, but revealed the 32-year-old's fitness concerns were part of his thinking.

"I spoke to all of them who were not on the list to give my direct feedback on my decision," Tuchel said.

"It was a close decision. We chose Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa at the moment. I think they are a little bit in a better rhythm and deserve to be with us. Two right footers in central defence and the rest were left footers in the centre of defence.

"The second reason was that he [Maguire] was not fit when we did the nomination.

I am not so concerned about the amount of games the players play in total. I am more concerned that they never have a real break of three to four weeks

Thomas Tuchel

"It was presumed that he can play but we didn’t want to nominate a player who we had to take a risk [with], and in the first training or second training and constantly need to assess whether he can do a full training session or half training session.

"We did the same with Reece James and only because of the feedback that he could do every session full was the reason we brought him in to camp.

"Harry knows that. It's not so easy for him at the club at the moment. He plays in a back three on top of it but he’s a top professional and he’s very important for England.

"He took it unbelievably well. He wrote me messages to wish us good luck and you see what a person he is. He is a top guy and he will always be in contention."