FC Bayern Munich Schedule

Die Winterpause

When: 12/22/2025 thru 1/8/2025

Bayern will be back in action January 11, 2026, at 10:30am!

• Every season the Bundesliga takes a break in the middle of winter – rather obviously called the winter break – where the league shuts up shop for several weeks and fans long for the return of their weekly Bundesliga fix.
• It allows players and staff a chance to recharge their batteries before getting back to the daily grind of winning games.
• With average January temperatures traditionally below freezing across Germany, it makes sense to take a breather when snowballs are easier to kick than footballs!
• In 2025/26 the break arrives after Matchday 15, but traditionally it would come at the midpoint of the season once 17 rounds of games have been played.
• This provides an easy demarcation between what’s known as the Hinrunde and the Rückrunde – better explained in English as the first and second half of the season.
• The Bundesliga has at times in the past taken up to six weeks off and not returned until February.
• More recently, it’s been about four weeks - sometimes less when the league needs to start late or finish early because of an international tournament like the Euros or World Cup.
• Usually, Winterpause rhymes with 'sun, sand and sweat' in post-Christmas training camps dotted around southern Europe, beginning in early January.
• This season, though, the record champions will remain in Munich and opt to brave the German winter like many other teams, avoiding the hassle of travelling by simply training at home.
• The Bundesliga stars are not alone in getting the chance to put their feet up for a few days over the festive period. France, Spain and Italy all have brief sojourns at various times, normally lasting a couple of weeks as those leagues have more teams and therefore more matchdays to squeeze in.
• Leagues in eastern Europe have much longer winter breaks, sometimes up to three months.
• At the other end of the scale, the English Premier League has never had a winter break. However, they recently introduced a one-week mid-season hiatus in February.