The Premier League will announce the official fixture list for the 2025/26 season on Wednesday. Although it feels like the 2024/25 season has only just concluded, all 20 teams will soon discover their opponents and match dates for the forthcoming campaign.
Liverpool dominated the Premier League last term, finishing a clear 10 points ahead of second-placed Arsenal. The relegation battle was also decidedly one-sided, with Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City dropping down to the Championship.
Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, lost 1-0 on the final day at home to Chelsea to see their top-five hopes - and a place in the Champions League - vanish. They will now contest the Europa Conference League after finishing seventh, just an agonising two points outside the key positions.
Amongst the new clubs they will be playing next season are promoted trio Sunderland, Burnley and Leeds United - and just when those games will take place will be revealed at 9am on Wednesday, June 18.
Upon release of the list, fans can sometimes express frustration over what they perceive as an unfair start or end to the season. However, creating the fixture list is far from simple.
Ahead of its release, the Mirror has explained how it is put together, including three unbreakable rules that affect every club.
Premier League officials state that compiling the fixture list takes up to six months. The task is undertaken by French IT company Atos, based just outside Paris.
A multitude of factors must be considered before the list can be finalised. A wealth of information that influences the order of matches is fed into their system, which then generates the fixture list.
For instance, it must factor in dates of international matches as well as those of Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League clashes. It also needs to consider the scheduling of matches in the lower leagues.
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Furthermore, policing capacity and geographical proximity of teams are also taken into account to ensure public safety resources aren't stretched too thin. For instance, Liverpool and Everton can't play at home on the same weekend, due to the intense strain it would put on police resources.
The same rule applies to Manchester United and Manchester City, but the rules are more relaxed for London teams, given the large number of clubs in the capital.
Individual teams are also permitted to make special fixture requests when there's a potential stadium clash. For example, on October 11, Old Trafford will be hosting the Super League Grand Final, so United will likely have requested to play away that weekend.
In addition to considering all of the above, there are also three strict rules for fixture scheduling. Firstly, over a span of five matches, a team must play two matches at home and three away or vice versa.
Secondly, a club is not permitted to start or finish the season with two home or two away matches. In the 2023/24 campaign, Luton Town had to kick off their season with two consecutive away games as Kenilworth Road was still undergoing refurbishments to meet Premier League standards.
Thirdly, during the Boxing Day and New Year's Day fixtures, a team cannot play at home or away twice.
Once all of the background information has been entered, clubs are placed into a pairing grid, which determines when they will be playing at home or away.
The system then randomly generates sets of fixtures. These are manually checked by staff at Atos, as well as officials from the Premier League and the English Football League (EFL).
If a problem arises, the process is repeated, thus generating a new set of fixtures. This process continues until a fixture list is deemed to satisfy all requirements and rules.