The Football Association and Premier League are under intense pressure to solve potential fixture problems before next year's World Cup, reports The Guardian.
Fifa's rules forbid domestic-season fixtures taking place after 16 May, yet with the season due to kick off on 15 August, it means all 38 league fixtures must be crammed into 34 available weekends, with 19 midweek dates already ruled out due to international and Uefa competition commitments.
On top of this there are changes due to take place to the format for next year's Champions League, as well as the extension of the Uefa Cup into the longer-form Europa League.
A memorandum of understanding signed between Uefa and the European professional leagues, whose president is the Premier League chairman, Sir Dave Richards, in March, demands that clubs "respect the international match calendar and ensure all member leagues abstain in scheduling matches in dates reserved for Uefa club competition matches … unless exceptional circumstances so justify and it is agreed with Uefa on a case-by-case basis".
Although in practice Uefa has in the past shown flexibility over the issue, clubs believe there must be formal permission for their league fixtures to be scheduled during the key February-March period in the case of postponements.
"If there are FA Cup replays or displaced Premier League fixtures we're told they can't currently be played on Champions League or Europa Cup nights," said an insider involved in Thursday's club meeting. "There is also the potential for more fixture displacement depending on how clubs do in the Europa League."
The dispute over next season's fixture congestion will be talked through, probably next week, between the chief executives of the FA, Premier League and Football League, when the weekend of 16 May is likely to be reserved for the FA Cup final. That means the Premier League is set to run next season from 15 August to 9 May.