Are there Premier League games on Christmas Day?

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Are there Premier League games on Christmas Day? Many have asked this question as we approach the festive period of the footballing calendar.

The winter schedule has experienced a change this year due to the first ever World Cup held outside of the summer, but fans of the Premier League will still get to watch English top-flight football during their Christmas break.

So, are there Premier League games on Christmas Day? Let’s take a look…

Are there Premier League games on Christmas Day?

Well, the simple answer is no, although there are Premier League fixtures on Boxing Day as usual.

Those in England’s top-flight used to play on Christmas Day back in the early 1900s, although games held on the 25th of December started to become sparse as we approached the last quarter of that century.

Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers played out the final Christmas Day fixture in England back in 1965 at Bloomfield Road, with Alan Ball – who won the World Cup with England in 1966 – among the scorers as Blackpool won 4-2.

After that Lancashire derby, a decades-long footballing tradition in England came to an end.

Are there any football matches on Christmas Day?

For those of you who are absolutely desperate to watch football on Christmas Day, there will still be some fixtures held in countries who do not traditionally celebrate the holiday.

Galatasaray have a match scheduled against Istanbulspor in the Turkish Süper Lig, where three other fixtures will also take place.

Zira IK will take on FK Kapaz in Azerbaijan, while there will also be three games in the Egyptian Premier League on Christmas Day.

Iran’s Persian Gulf Pro League will also see three games taking place.

In the Israeli Premier League, Bnei Sakhnin will play Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The United Arab Emirates Pro League is also going ahead on Christmas Day, as well as the Saudi Arabian Premier League, Turkey’s Spor Toto 1. Lig and Tunisia’s Group A and Group B.

Of course, the likes of Sky Sports and BT Sport are highly unlikely to broadcast these matches, so you may have to get creative and find a stream online.