Premier League 2025/26 Fixtures Announcement

The schedule for the upcoming Premier League season in 2025/26, which includes a total of 2,036 games, is set to be revealed this Wednesday.

This update follows the league’s pledge to ensure a minimum of 60 hours of recuperation time for players between matches during the holiday season. Additionally, no games will be scheduled on Christmas Eve.

According to the Premier League, the planning of the season’s fixture list takes around 18 months. This lengthy process involves detailed consideration of factors such as travel logistics, policing requirements, and potential scheduling conflicts between various teams.

Fixture Planning Process

Glenn Thompson, the league’s fixture planner, outlined the procedure for finalizing the schedule. He mentioned that he receives the playing dates at the beginning of each year.

Thompson further explained that computer algorithms are utilized once the composition of each division is determined.

Thompson’s Statement

“My work begins at the start of the year when I receive the playing dates from the Premier League,” Thompson stated.

“We [along with the computer] commence the process once we know the composition of each division, which is after the final Football League playoff. Each club is then placed into a pairing grid to define their home dates,” he added.

He elaborated that the computer is programmed to know which clubs are playing at home and away, and it uses this information to randomly generate the match schedule accordingly.

“For every date throughout the season, the fixture computer is aware of the home and away status of each club, and it subsequently mixes them up randomly to create the matches,” Thompson clarified.

Thompson acknowledged that it’s impossible to satisfy everyone and that all clubs will need to make some compromises.

“It’s impossible to please everyone. It requires compromise from all clubs; we can’t favor any particular team.

“Across the Premier League and Football League, there are 2,036 matches scheduled over nine months. The objective is to ensure that these matches can all be played as planned.”