Why Premier League could see reduced Boxing Day schedule | OneFootball

The usual busy Boxing Day football schedule could look very different this year as a result of congestion in the Premier League calendar.

Traditionally at least half of the matches on the Christmas round of fixtures are played on Boxing Day, but only one is likely to take place this season, The Times reports.

Boxing Day falls on a Friday this year, when there is only one broadcast space reserved for a Premier League fixture. That means that the other nine matches are likely to be delayed until the weekend on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December.

The Premier League is obliged to provide 33 weekends of fixtures every season as a result of its broadcasting commitments, with only five rounds of midweek fixtures.

The league is struggling to find alternative weekends as a result of the expansion of the Champions League and new commitments to the FA Cup, which now takes up extra space in the calendar since the scrapping of replays, now having exclusive scheduling on weekends for the fourth and fifth rounds and quarter-finals.

Weekend fixtures in the Premier League are typically played at 3pm on Saturday, with some reserved for specific broadcast slots.

All ten matches for the round 18 fixtures are currently pencilled in the calendar for Saturday 27 December with the final calendar not yet released.

The last time Boxing Day fell on a Friday was in 2014, when all ten Premier League matches were played on the day. Previously 1981 featured the lowest number of games on Boxing Day since the end of the Second World War, with only two played.

Normal service is expected to resume next year with Boxing Day taking place on a Saturday.