It is always a keenly awaited moment, the release of the Premier League fixtures. Planning out the next year of your life as you find out in which order your team will play their 38 matches.
Looking for when certain opposition will play you, which Premier League fixtures to start and end the season, plus always an interest in the matches your club has around Christmas and New Year.
Last season was an ideal set-up in my opinion, in terms of Newcastle United having both their first game of the season at St James’ Park and the very last match of the 2024/25 campaign.
For sure you want to have the best possible chance of starting the season with a win, which means ideally a home game if possible.
Last season, United got Southampton at home in the opener and did really well in the end, having to play some 70 minutes a man down after Schar’s dismissal but still keeping a clean sheet and Joelinton scoring the winner.
Less said about the final game of the season the better, apart from the fact it was the day Newcastle United qualified for the Champions League. However, you couldn’t complain about how the final round of Premier League fixtures had worked out, as at the start of the season you would have taken home to Everton, ahead of what the other four Champions League contenders faced – away at Old Trafford, away at Fulham, away at Forest, home to Chelsea.
At the end of May, we covered an interesting new report (see below) from BBC Sport that detailed what happens in the background, how the running order of Premier League fixtures is decided upon ahead of each new season.
In Newcastle United’s particular circumstances, the (very temporary???) return of Sunderland to the top tier, could that have an impact on United’s Premier League fixtures?
Well, I knew nothing about it until this Tuesday morning, somebody mentioned to me that Newcastle United are for sure going to be playing away in the first match, when the Premier League fixtures are announced on Wednesday.
It remains to be seen whether this is true or not, but the claim is that Sunderland have to play away from home on the second weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League season, so that means they will be at home on the opening weekend. The knock-on impact of this, is that it’s claimed then that means Newcastle United will have to be away first match, then home the second weekend.
The reasoning being, which again, I didn’t know anything about this. Is that the mackems’ Stadium of Light is hosting the first match of the Women’s Rugby Union World Cup, England v USA at 7.30pm on Friday 22 August 2025. The claim made that with the stadium handed over for this Rugby event on the Friday, Sunderland can’t play at home that weekend as a lot of work needing to be done to swap it back for normal use, changing over branding etc, as well as of course swapping Rugby posts for Football goalposts.
So is this one of the events that has been programmed in, before the 2025/26 Premier League fixtures are generated?
I can’t say for sure but my money is on Newcastle United away from home on the opening weekend of Saturday 16 August 2025.
Alex Isak Goal Celebration Newcastle
BBC Sport report:
‘The Premier League fixtures for the 2025-26 season will be released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday, 18 June 2025.
The release will include the weekly schedule of all 380 matches.
The season will begin with a single fixture played on Friday, 15 August 2025 and conclude on Sunday, 24 May 2026, when all matches will be played at 16:00 BST. There will be 33 weekend rounds of fixtures, plus five midweek rounds.
The exact date and time at which individual matches are played during each weekend will be determined at regular intervals throughout the season, based on TV selections made by broadcasters.
Before the 2024-25 season, the Premier League told fans they would be given plenty of notice before changing fixtures for TV.
Dates based on TV selections are scheduled to be released five to six weeks in advance but – on occasion – have taken longer to be announced.
“The Premier League has committed to giving supporters a minimum of six weeks’ notice on UK broadcast selections until December 2024, and five weeks’ from January 2025 until Matchweek 37,” the Premier League said before the 2024-25 season.
Following criticism over the scheduling of the match between Wolves and Chelsea on 24 December 2023, there will be no Christmas Eve fixture for the second year in a row.
The fixture schedule is released to media organisations under an embargo a few hours before the public reveal, in order to allow for the preparation of written news stories and broadcast packages.
How are Premier League fixtures decided?
According to the Premier League, putting together the fixture schedule takes up to six months.
The process is managed by multinational IT company Atos, which has its headquarters just outside of Paris.
A slew of information about the football calendar – international dates, European matchweeks, and the scheduling of the lower leagues – is inputted into the system so it can generate a list which functions.
Further information such as policing capacity and geographical proximity are also taken into account. For example, the system is told that Liverpool and Everton cannot play at home on the same weekend, because doing so would put too much on strain on police resources and transport infrastructure in one city.
The same goes for other closely situated rivals, like Manchester United and Manchester City, but the rules are more relaxed in London owing to the prevalence of top-flight clubs in the capital.
Clubs can also make requests in case there is a potential stadium clash. For example, Old Trafford will host the Super League Grand Final on Saturday, 11 October 2025, so Manchester United are likely to request their fixture is away that weekend.
Once all of the background information has been inputted, clubs are put in a pairing grid, which defines when they will play at home and when they will play away. From there, the system generates a randomised set of fixtures.
The fixture list is manually verified by Atos staff and representatives from the Premier League and Football League. If any issues are spotted, the process is repeated again and a new set of fixtures is generated until one is deemed to satisfy all requirements.
What rules are there for home and away Premier League fixture scheduling?
There are three key home and away rules which the fixture generator must abide by.
In any period of five matches, a club must play either three times at home and twice away, or vice versa.
A club cannot start or end the season with two home or two away matches.
A club cannot play at home twice or away twice for the fixtures which take place on or around Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.’