The “growth of European membership competitions” has led to there being only one recreation on 26 December within the English prime flight, says the Premier League.
Boxing Day fixtures have been a long-standing custom in English soccer however this yr the one Premier League recreation might be Manchester United’s residence match with Newcastle United (20:00 GMT).
Whereas confirming the schedule for this yr’s festive fixtures, the league’s communications supervisor George Haberman mentioned: “The Premier League want to acknowledge the circumstances which have led to a lowered variety of matches on Boxing Day this season – impacting an essential custom in English soccer.
“There at the moment are a number of challenges to Premier League fixture scheduling rooted within the growth of European membership competitions – which led to a revision of our home calendar forward of final season, together with modifications to the FA Cup.
“This in the end left the Premier League as a 33-weekend competitors – fewer than earlier seasons, regardless of being a 380-match competitors since 1995.”
Extra to comply with.
