Key Takeaways
The 2024/25 Premier League season has no winter break due to a later start date to the campaign, enforced by Euro 2024 and Copa America.
Previous winter breaks have taken place in 2019/20 & 2023/24, with controversy around FA Cup replays.
No Premier League club will play two matches within 60 hours during the festive period this season.
Following the conclusion of the November international break, Premier League action resumed, and all 20 teams are now preparing for a busy period before the end of the year. Unlike the top flight in Germany, Spain, France and Italy, the Premier League has no winter break for the 2024/25 campaign. Instead, teams across the division face a hectic schedule, including the new Manchester United head coach, Ruben Amorim, who has seven league matches in December.
The English top flight has experimented with a winter break in the 2019/20 and 2023/24 seasons, but it has been shelved for the current campaign. Here is a complete guide to why this is the case and what it means for the clubs playing in European competitions.
Impact of Euro 2024 & Copa America
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The fixtures for the 2024/25 Premier League season were announced on 18th June 2024. One of the most notable aspects of the schedule was that there was no winter break, unlike the previous campaign. Due to the impact of Euro 2024 and Copa America taking place in the summer, the start of the season was delayed until mid-August, with the first match between United and Fulham played on 16th August. This was a week later than the previous campaign when Pep Guardiola's Manchester City travelled to Burnley on 11th August.
Ultimately, the slightly later start to the 2024/25 season meant that a winter break was not possible, especially with the extended schedule of the new Champions League and Europa League format. English teams playing in these two competitions will play eight 'League Phase' matches instead of six, with the additional matchdays taking place in the last couple of weeks of January 2025. Given that seven English clubs are competing in European competitions, including Chelsea in the Europa Conference League, there is no room in the schedule to give teams a two-week break.
As well as this, the FA Cup third round will take place on the weekend of 11th-12th January, which is slightly later than the usual slot, which is the first week of the year. To ease fixture congestion, no Premier League club will play two matches within 60 hours of each other during the festive period between 21st December and 5th January. For example, Liverpool play Leicester City on Boxing Day, and their next game is on 29th December against West Ham United.
Boxing Day Premier League Fixtures - 2024/25
Match
Manchester City vs Everton
Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace
Chelsea vs Fulham
Newcastle vs Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton vs West Ham
Wolves vs Manchester United
Liverpool vs Leicester City
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Previous Examples of Winter Breaks in the Premier League
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A winter break was first introduced in the Premier League for the 2019/20 season. This allowed all 20 teams a break of at least 13 days between league matches in February. For example, United drew 0-0 against Wolves on 1st February and had to wait 16 days until their next game, which was a trip to Stamford Bridge. This break only included Premier League matches, though.
There was controversy when Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton, and Newcastle United were forced to play their FA Cup fourth-round replays in the middle of the enforced break in February. Jurgen Klopp didn't attend the club's replay at Anfield in a stand against fixture congestion, with Neil Critchley taking charge of a team of under-23s.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, which heavily affected the schedule for the 2020/21 season, along with the mid-season World Cup in Qatar in 2022, it wasn't until the 2023/24 campaign that the winter break returned. This allowed all 20 teams a two-week break at some point during the period of 2nd January and 30th January 2024.
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Information gathered from Premier League - Correct as of 29/11/24.