Overview
- Manchester United host Newcastle United in the day’s lone Premier League fixture on 26 December at Old Trafford.
- League officials cite expanded UEFA competition dates and FIFA’s 72-hour minimum rest rule as the key reasons for compressing the holiday schedule.
- A contract obliging 33 of 38 matchweeks to be staged on weekends restricted midweek options, so most of Matchweek 18 shifted to the weekend.
- The change interrupts a long-running Boxing Day tradition that usually features multiple games, with the last total absence of fixtures recorded in 1982.
- The Premier League describes the move as an exception and says it expects to return to a fuller Boxing Day program in 2026.