So, the 2025/26 Premier League fixtures are set to be released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday 18 June, but what actually happens and how are the fixtures actually put together?
How long is a Premier League season?
Each Premier League season is made up of 380 fixtures.
Each of the 20 clubs play the other 19 clubs once home and once away to generate these 380 fixtures.
The season traditionally starts in August and ends in May. But the exact start and end dates each year vary across these two months because of summer international tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championships.
These two tournaments alternate each even year (e.g EURO 2024, 2026 World Cup, EURO 2028 etc) and require clubs to provide their players to participating national teams a designated time before the tournament starts to prepare.
So, for example, the end date of 24 May 2026 for the Premier League has been determined with consideration of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, which starts on 11 June.
The start date of 16 August 2025 allows for the maximum player rest time available – 83 clear days – from the end of the 2024/25 season.
How does the fixture list then get organised?
Well, the Premier League fixtures form part of a bigger football fixture calendar, which involves other domestic competitions, such as the EFL’s three divisions (Championship, League One, League Two), the FA Cup, the EFL Cup, as well as international club competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, and FIFA’s international match calendar for matches between nations.
When does work start on a season’s fixture list?
The work begins at the start of the year, some six months or so before the fixtures are released and eight months before the fixtures themselves start.
The Premier League works with Glenn Thompson, of Atos, an international IT services company, to help go through the football calendar dates and available for determine when and where the 2,036 different fixtures across the Premier League and the three divisions of the EFL are to be played.
Firstly, when the League and Thompson consider the fixture list at the start of the year, the various dates for the international matches (club and country) get precedence.
So, the FIFA dates are ringfenced and then the dates for UEFA competitions.
Here things got a bit more complex from last season, because each of the three UEFA club competitions expanded in size, with additional fixtures now taking place on midweek dates. So, the Champions League has gone from six Matchweeks in midweek to 10, or from 125 matches in 2023/24 to 189 in 2024/25.
This reduces the number of midweek dates available for Premier League or domestic cup matches to be played because teams in UEFA competitions are unable to play both competitions in the same midweek.
On top of all that, this season there are an unprecedented nine Premier League clubs in UEFA competitions, with six in the UEFA Champions League playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which only adds to the complexities to be considered.
After the FIFA and UEFA club dates are added to the calendar then the dates of the FA Cup rounds are inserted. There are eight rounds of the FA Cup from the first round to the final (although Premier League clubs enter at the third-round stage in early January) that need to be added.
Only once all those dates are in place and protected can Thompson and the League start to map out the Premier League fixtures. In the 2025/26 season, there are 33 weekends and five midweeks available where the fixtures can slotted into.
There is also consultation with fans at an early stage, where the Football Supporters' Federation, and other stakeholders are advised on the complexities of the calendar and the season ahead.
Around April, the Premier League asks its clubs for any dates they wish to play at home, for example Club anniversaries, or to be away. As clubs develop multi-use stadiums so these requests can include dates for other events they are hosting such as NFL matches, or, for example, this year the Women’s Rugby League World Cup, which is being hosted at a number of Premier League stadiums.
Sometimes, clubs are developing their stadiums and so request that they do not start the season at home to allow extra time to have it ready for the first home match.
There are situations where two clubs in close proximity will not be playing at home on the same weekend or midweek, to facilitate local police forces allocating officers to these matches. So, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Fulham, Everton and Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United, Newcastle United and Sunderland, are paired and alternate home and away fixtures.
Then it is necessary to wait for the 20 Premier League teams to be confirmed, following the Championship playoff final in May, which determines the final promoted team.
How are the fixtures actually compiled?
Once the fixture computer knows which clubs are at home and who are away for every date in the season, it will mix them up to determine the matches.
Are there any basic rules that need to be followed?
There are some basic principles that the computer tries to follow:
- In any five matches there should be a split of three home fixtures and two away; or two home fixtures and three away.
- A team will never have more than two home or away matches in a row and, wherever possible, teams will be home and away either side of FA Cup ties.
- A club will not start or finish the season with two home or two away matches for reasons of fairness. Around the Christmas period, if a team are at home on the first round of matches after Christmas Day they will be away on New Year's Day or an equivalent date.
- The League also tries to maintain a Saturday home-away sequence throughout the season wherever possible.
What other considerations are made?
Travel for fans around England is also taken into account. Are supporters from the same areas travelling on the same day to Premier League matches on the same train lines? The computer also tries to minimise travel for fans on Boxing Day and New Year's Day or an equivalent date.
Is the fixture list checked before it is published?
The fixtures are reviewed over a number of days, looking at every date to make sure that wherever possible everything requested has been met.
It can be that changing one match requires 40 other changes so the computer is very useful because it will give alternative dates.