Why Are There No Boxing Day Games in the Premier League This Season?

Premier League action on Boxing Day has long been a much-loved staple of the English football calendar.

Full to the brim with roast potatoes and still slightly hungover from the previous day’s overconsumption of Bailey's, it’s tradition for weary heads to journey to football stadiums across the country in desperate hope of a precious late Christmas present.

However, when the 2025–26 Premier League fixture list was announced on June 18, there was a notable absence of Boxing Day fixtures, much to the concern and frustration of supporters.

But not all is as it seems...

Why Are There No Premier League Fixtures on Boxing Day?

The Premier League announced its fixture list on June 18. | IMAGO/Sebastian Fre

Currently, the Premier League campaign consists of 33 weekends and five midweek rounds of fixtures. This schedule is organised to avoid congestion with both domestic competitions (FA Cup and Carabao Cup) and UEFA’s three European competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Conference League).

This allocation of 33 weekends and five midweek rounds is then instrumental to the Premier League selling its TV packages to domestic broadcast partners such as Sky Sports and TNT Sports.

With Boxing Day falling on a Friday this season, matches staged on December 26 would be considered part of a weekend round of fixtures as opposed to one of five midweek rounds. As a result, all of Gameweek 18’s fixtures are presently scheduled to be played on Saturday, December 27.

This marks the first time in Premier League history that there have not been matches scheduled for Boxing Day at the release of the season’s fixture list.

Will Premier League Fixtures Be Moved to Boxing Day?

Most likely, yes. The Premier League have already stated that “matches in round 18 (December 27) are available for movement to Boxing Day for live broadcast selection”, meaning there will almost certainly be at least a few matches brought forward to December 26 and shown on TV.

With Amazon Prime Video’s Premier League deal having now expired—they broadcast last term’s Boxing Day matches—it will be up to UK broadcasters Sky Sports and TNT to decide which games they want to televise across Gameweek 18, including which matches will be moved to Boxing Day.

The Premier League usually provides a notice period of at least six weeks before moving a Premier League fixture for TV broadcast. That means supporters will likely have to wait until mid-October at least to discover which fixtures will be played on December 26.

In 2025–26, there will be more live Premier League fixtures televised than ever before, with 270 of the 380 games being shown.