It’s one of those unmissable Yuletide traditions. Bloated from over-indulgence on Christmas Day, how many football fans spend Boxing Day lying prostrate on the sofa, watching as many games as possible?
The Premier League has served up a veritable buffet of action – if you’ll pardon the pun – on December 26 historically, with all-time highs in 2024: eight games meant 12 hours of televised coverage staggered across four different kick-off times. But in 2025?
Well, the tradition is no more… and could spell an end to Boxing Day football altogether.
Boxing Day Blues
For the 2025/26 season, Premier League chiefs are offering up a ‘greater rest period’ over the Christmas period – not to those that have eaten too much turkey, but to the players themselves.
According to a statement put out by the EPL, which coincided with the release of the fixture list for the campaign, a spokesperson commented:
In keeping with our commitment to providing a greater rest period over the Christmas and New Year period, no club will be requested to play less than 48 hours between Match Rounds 18 and 19 (December 27 and December 30).
Matches in Round 18 (December 27) are available for movement to Boxing Day for live broadcast selection. Each club has a home match on either 27 December or 3 January, with travel reduced on 27 December and 30 December.
Eagled eyed readers may have noticed the caveat in the statement, which suggests that Premier League games COULD be played on Boxing Day pending the agreement of the two clubs involved and a desire on the part of broadcasters – nominally Sky Sports – to show the action live.
While fans that attend games might welcome the move – travelling to away games on Boxing Day can be a nightmare, given the shrunken public transport schedule, for armchair viewers this will be another long-lasting football tradition that has been taken away.
But Premier League sides enjoyed a bumper 2024/25 campaign, with five Champions League places available – one more than normal – and a host of other variances meaning that as many as nine top-flight sides will play in continental competition in 2025/26… almost half of all EPL clubs.
Who Is to Blame?
All of which means that the Premier League has had to commit to fewer midweek matchdays, with just five sets of midweek matches to go with 33 weekend slots. But in order for that to happen, December 27 has to be one of the Saturday rounds of matches… rendering Boxing Day a no go.
You can thank the Club World Cup for that: FIFA’s reimagined version of the competition has forced the Premier League season to kick off a week later than usual. The campaign also has a concrete end date of May 24; after that, it’s the Champions League final and preparations for the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America.
Ironically, Boxing Day will fall on a Saturday in 2026… so there will be a return to televised fixtures on December 26 accordingly. There’s some more news that may be met with positivity. There’s no such guidelines to those set out by the Premier League in place for the EFL, so it’s likely that games will be broadcast live on Boxing Day – a crumb of comfort for armchair spectators.
Boxing Day Bangers
While the average Joe or Jane may be reeling from bloating and/or constipation, professional footballers at the top level of the game are busy delivering some iconic games and performances.
1963
Who can forget the famous Boxing Day schedule of 1963, when ten First Division fixtures produced 66 goals… including Fulham’s 10-1 hammering of Ipswich Town, Blackburn’s 8-2 shellacking of West Ham and Manchester United’s 1-6 defeat at the hands of Burnley.
2013
In modern times, there’s been plenty of other Boxing Day bangers to enjoy from the sofa. In 2013/14, a quirk of the fixture list saw table-toppers Liverpool tackle would-be champions Manchester City. The Reds took the lead, but goals from Vincent Kompany and Alvaro Negredo secured a 2-1 win for the Cityzens – halting Liverpool’s momentum and propelling City to their first ever Premier League title… which came by a margin of two points from the Merseysiders.
2007
Many people will opt for a take-your-brain-out action film on Boxing Day, but all of the high-octane drama anyone could need was delivered in one of the Premier League’s best ever games on December 26, 2007.
Chelsea and Aston Villa could not be separated in a game that featured eight goals, two penalties and three red cards – the season of goodwill well and truly forgotten at Stamford Bridge. The Blues trailed 2-0, rallied to 2-2, twice led but had to settle for a point as the Villains notched an injury time penalty – a rollercoaster ride every bit as epic as Christmas fan favourite Die Hard.
On the Move
After issuing their update about the lack of fixtures on Boxing Day, the Premier League also delivered a warning to away fans about the possibility of games being rearranged – or that only five weeks will be given for future fixture announcements.
That’s another offshoot of having nine teams competing in Europe; without knowing how many of these will make it through to the knockout phase of their respective tournaments, the EPL is unable to schedule games in the second half of the campaign with pinpoint accuracy.
Premier League chiefs have admitted an ‘increased likelihood’ of games having to be moved at short notice – which can be a considerable pain for supporters that have booked hotels, train tickets etc in advance of matchday. And that could also be a factor at Christmas, when Sky Sports have the power to move games from December 27 to Boxing Day with little notice required. An EPL spokesperson revealed,
There is an increased likelihood of Premier League fixtures moving at relatively short notice, after our fixture announcements, should our clubs progress to the knockout rounds of these competitions.
