One tradition is dead: No more Boxing day matches

There isn’t a person who’s ever had internet at home, joined any social network, and hasn’t seen that famous graphic from 1963 — the one showing the “million” goals scored in the Premier League on Boxing Day. Since the rise of social media, that photo has circulated endlessly, creating a myth that goals fall like snow on that Catholic holiday — and it all became a kind of running joke. However, football on that day will soon be no more. According to English media, particularly The Daily Mail, only one single Premier League match will be played on Boxing Day this year. The tradition is ending — everything’s being thrown away — because of the congested fixture schedule. The FA Cup and UEFA competitions have forced this change on the famous date, which will now feature just one game.

Boxing Day falls on a Friday this year and will be treated like any other Friday, meaning one evening Premier League fixture. The world’s top football league must provide 33 weekends of matches to its TV rights holders, and squeezing in Boxing Day as an extra round is impossible since it falls on a Friday. Nothing is official yet, but it’s almost certain there will be just one game that day, with the rest of the matches spread over the usual Saturday, Sunday, and Monday slots. Further discussions are planned, but insiders say that changing the proposed scenario is highly unlikely. There’s also no decision yet on which match will be chosen for the holiday broadcast if only one is scheduled. The Premier League had announced that the list of televised fixtures for December and January would be released on October 15, but that announcement has still not appeared. Things are quite different in the EFL, where a full Boxing Day schedule will take place in the Championship, League One, and League Two — and the same goes for the National League.

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The first Boxing Day match was played in 1888. Until 1965, games in England were also held on Christmas Day. The last time Boxing Day fell on a Friday — in 2014 — the Premier League held a full round of fixtures. Last year, the Football Association (FA) announced that the FA Cup would be moved entirely to weekends, eliminating replays as part of a six-year agreement between the FA and the Premier League — a change prompted by an expanded UEFA competition calendar. Boxing Day is on December 26.