Fans of the English Premier League around the world have grown to know the tradition as well as those in England do.
When it's Boxing Day, turn on the TV. There will be a match on.
That's not true in 2025, at least not to the extent it usually is. On this year's Boxing Day, this Friday, the day after Christmas, Dec. 26: There's just one game.
What EPL games are on Boxing Day 2025?
There's just one match on Dec. 26, 2025 in the English Premier League.
Manchester United will host Newcastle at Old Trafford in a night kickoff in England, which is 3 p.m. ET in the United States.
Why aren't there more English Premier League games on Boxing Day 2025?
It has to do with worldwide fixture congestion.
"Yet with the global football calendar becoming increasingly congested due to the expansion of European club competitions and the emergence of the FIFA Club World Cup, which was staged for the first time in the United States this summer, the Premier League has chosen to schedule Matchweek 18 of this season's fixture list over three days rather than cramming them all into Dec. 26."
Ogden writes that this is the first time that only one match has been played in the top-flight of English football on Boxing Day since 1982.
"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 in a statement. "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. With fewer weekends to work with, the League is bound by how the calendar falls."
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