Boxing Day will feature just a single Premier League match—Manchester United vs. Newcastle United—in a shift away from the holiday period tradition.
Usually one of the busiest periods of any football season, the league announced all other Gameweek 18 fixtures will take place Dec. 27–28. There won’t be a Christmas Eve fixture this year either.
Instead, there will be 10 matches between Dec. 20–22, no matches through Christmas Day and then Man Utd hosting Newcastle at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. The last time there was a Christmas Eve fixture was in 2023 when Wolverhampton Wanderers faced Chelsea.
“The Premier League would like to acknowledge the circumstances that have led to a reduced number of matches on Boxing Day this season – impacting an important tradition in English football,” the league said Friday.
Premier League: Have to Comply With Calendar
The Premier League detailed challenges that arose this season with scheduling, highlighting European competitions, the FA Cup and the calendar, while also making a big commitment for the 2026–27 campaign.
“There are now several challenges to Premier League fixture scheduling rooted in the expansion of European club competitions—which led to a revision of our domestic calendar ahead of last season, including changes to the FA Cup. This ultimately left the Premier League as a 33-weekend competition—fewer than previous seasons, despite being a 380-match competition since 1995,” the league said.
“With fewer weekends to work with, the League is bound by how the calendar falls. The League can give an assurance that next season there will be more Premier League matches on Boxing Day—as the date falls on a Saturday.”
The recent changes guarantee no team will be play two matches withing 60 hours of each other.
2025 Premier League Holiday Schedule
The full slate of fixtures from Boxing Day through New Year’s Day is as follows:
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Premier League Announces Major 2025 Boxing Day Schedule Change.
