The history of Boxing Day in the Premier League

by Mauro Mondello24. December 2024

Boxing Day in England has a very long history and is a real moment of worship for international football. Let's discover the secrets, the stories, the characters of this very particular event.

Boxing Day, a celebration that comes from afar

They call it Boxing Day. It is the most fascinating Premier League round of the entire season and comes immediately after Christmas, a day of celebration and in which, in much of the world, the football leagues are on holiday.

It is called this because, in 1800, the great English landowners and the nobles of England used to give a Christmas box to their workers on Boxing Day, as thanks for the results obtained during the year. The day of delivery of the boxin fact, it was called “Boxing Day”, the day of the box.

In football the origin of this special football day dates back to December 26, 1860when the derby between Sheffield and Hallam was played. It was a huge success, to the point that from time to time, in the following years, the experiment was repeated: even, until 1958, it was played directly on Christmas Day, always with extraordinary results in terms of spectators.

From 1959, however, it was moved to Boxing Day, also to avoid problems of public order which, especially in the post-war period, had characterized some of the matches, especially in relation to the lack of public transport to reach the stadiums, given that most of the drivers were, rightly, having lunch with their families.

One of the most incredible Boxing Days ever took place in 1963, when more than sixty goals were scored in the ten matches played. Boxing Day 2021 is also historicwhen, despite the raging Covid pandemic, the English League still decided to take the field, regardless of the defections of many players, in isolation due to the infection.

An interesting fact is that linked to historic Boxing Day bomber jacketsa day much loved by Harry Kane, captain of the English national team and, for a long time, also of Tottenham. The striker, now at Bayern Munich, scored ten goals in his career in the Premier League match on 26 December.

Behind him we find the legendary Robbie Fowler del Liverpoolfamous for his provocative celebration in which he pretended to sniff the goal line with his nose, to nine goals. Alan Shearer, eight goals, Robbie Kean, eight goals, and Thierry Henry seven goals also remain in the annals of Boxing Day.

A highly anticipated Boxing Day 2024

Ten hours of non-stop football, eight matches divided into four blocks, different times (2 will be played on 27 December) and a day entirely dedicated to a real Premier indigestion: Welcome to Boxing Day 2024, one of the craziest days in international football. In total, between 21 December and 6 January the Premier League will offer forty matches, a notable effort, designed to give fans maximum sporting entertainment during the holidays.

We start at 1.30pm Italian time with the match between Manchester City and Evertonthen time to stretch and off we go, at 4pm there are five matches: Newcastle – Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest – Tottenham, Bournemouth – Crystal Palace, Chelsea – Fulham, Southampton – West Ham. At 6.30pm we continue with Wolverhampton – Manchester United and then the grand finale, at 9pm, with Liverpool – Leicester.

The challenge between the two remains to be seen Guardiola's Citizens, eight defeats in the last eleven gamesand the Everton of the new owners Friedkin, who have been the protagonists of a colorless season so far but possibly reinvigorated by the company news, also in the perspective of the large market movements (especially with Roma), which have been hypothesized in recent weeks.

The challenge between is also fascinating Newcastle e Aston Villa. The Arab Magpies of the PIF fund had started with very different ambitions at the beginning of the year but find themselves in a bit of trouble, still in full swing for a Champions League place but decidedly outside of more prestigious goals. However, Villa led by Emery is on three points and, after a splendid 2023/2024 championship, is trying to maintain its performances at a good level.

Also watch out for Nottingham of the former Fiorentina Milenkovicwho challenge the Toffies from the top of a surprising fourth place: as the table stands now, it is a real direct clash, which could make the difference, at the end of the year, between who manages to snatch the pass to Europe and who will instead be left stranded.

Another match to watch carefully is the one between Chelsea and Fulham. Maresca's boys come from one eight-game winning streak between league and cup competitions, they are firmly in second place in the standings and will try at all costs to maintain the pace so as not to lose sight of a Liverpool team that continues its period of great form. Happy Boxing Day everyone!