PARIS: The French top-flight will have a six-week break across November and December next season for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the league announced on Wednesday. The 2022/23 Ligue 1 campaign kicks off the weekend of August 6 and will be paused during the World Cup, stopping on November 13 and resuming on December 28. Next year’s tournament, which runs from November 21 to December 18, will be the first not to be held in May, June or July due to Qatar’s intense summer heat. Players are due to be released by their clubs for international duty on November 14, a week before the opening game of the World Cup. The French season will conclude June 4, two weeks later than the end date for the current campaign. The league in June voted to decrease the number of clubs in Ligue 1 from 20 to 18 from the 2023-24 season. Four clubs will be relegated from the top division at the end of the 2022-23 season, with just two promoted from Ligue 2.