It seems that England's World Cup campaign in Germany next summer will be given as much of a helping hand as possible by the English Football Association (FA). After a lengthy battle of wills, England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson won his battle to secure a four-week gap before next year's World Cup finals.

The FA announced on Thursday that the FA Cup final, the last game of the domestic season, will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2006 in the first match at the new Wembley Stadium.

World soccer governing body FIFA had allowed the FA special dispensation to play next season's final on May 20 but Eriksson maintained England needed the full four weeks' preparation time.

The FA decision to bring forward the date of the final by a week, and the knock-on effect of the Premier League ending a week earlier than normal, is more than Eriksson could have hoped for after a concerted campaign to give his players extra time to recover from the rigors of domestic action.

Other European leagues which are hoping to field their national teams in the 2006 spectacle may be less lucky if their 2005/06 fixtures are more or less similar to those of the current season. FIFA has recommended a four-week window between the end of domestic action and the World Cup but if some countries fail to take advantage of this, England may have at least two weeks more preparation time than some of their continental rivals.

European rivals may be at a disadvantage

In Germany, the host nation, the Bundesliga could come to a close on the weekend of May 20-21, giving those players involved in Jürgen Klinsmann's plans almost three weeks off before the opening game of the World Cup in Munich on June 9. Those still involved in the German DFB Cup final, which is always played a week after the last league game of the season, will still have two weeks to prepare and recover.

Ligue 1 in France traditionally comes to a close on the last weekend in May, with the French Cup Final already over with by the beginning of that month. French national team players who still ply their trade at home will have a fortnight before the World Cup. Italy's Serie A and the Spanish Primera Liga also end on the last weekend in May with the Copa Italia decided in early May and the Copa del Rey out of the way in late March.

The European competitions also should be out of the way by the end of May 2006 with the Champions League final being played in the middle of the last week of the month and the UEFA Cup a week earlier, around the 18th.

While it all sounds rosy for the English, currently leading Group Six in qualifying, to accommodate this luxury European soccer has to implement some unpopular changes.

FA plans have European implications

To make sure that a fixture pile-up doesn't undo the FA's work, any FA Cup replays in the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2005/06 competition will be scrapped for clubs still involved in European competitions. Teams in the UEFA Cup will not be required to play replays in the fifth round or quarter-finals. Those in the Champions League will not have quarter-final replays and any ties affected will go to extra time and penalties if necessary.

The FA said in a statement that the replay exemptions would only affect next season: "This follows continued positive talks involving the FA, Premier League and Football League to find an appropriate solution to protecting the tradition and heritage of the FA Cup, while allowing for FIFA's four-week window between the end of all major domestic seasons and the start of the World Cup."

"The FA believes it is crucial to allow the national team to be given equal preparation time to every other team competing in Germany next summer, subject to qualification. To allow for a full four-week break, the domestic season has to conclude by May 13."