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Premier League 2025/26 fixtures – live: Opening matches and full schedule for every club announced
Champions Liverpool defend their Premier League title, with the likes of Man City, Arsenal and more eager to challenge, while Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland are the newcomers
The Premier League season has barely finished, but excitement is growing for the 2025/26 campaign with the fixtures now released.
Champions Liverpool will be determined to defend their title and Arne Slot has been backed in the market with the arrival of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez and Florian Wirtz could follow. They begin the campaign against Bournemouth on the opening night of the season.
Likewise, Manchester City have been aggressive in the market, signing Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri to boost Pep Guardiola’s hopes of bouncing back.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have gone so close in recent seasons and will be desperate to hit the ground running to ensure Mikel Arteta can secure a legacy-defining piece of silverware. Chelsea will be keen to build under Enzo Maresca and the youngest squad in the league, while Tottenham embark under new management in Thomas Frank.
Manchester United must quickly show signs of life under Ruben Amorim after a disastrous end to last season, plus newcomers Leeds United, Burnley and Sunderland can dare to dream of a memorable first season back in the big time after promotion.
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As the Club World Cup continues, clubs are splashing the cash in the summer transfer window, including Liverpool’s seismic signing of Florian Wirtz, so the fixtures will provide a target for both players and fans - follow for every club’s schedule and reaction below:
The three golden rules of the Premier League fixtures and 2025/26 schedule
The third fixtures rule concerns the festive period.
Fans can safely know they will not see their team play home or away for both Boxing Day and New Year's Day fixtures.
This ensures a fair distribution of travel and allows fans to watch their team during the traditional festive season.
The three golden rules of the Premier League fixtures and 2025/26 schedule
The second rule to consider is a team will not start or finish the season with two home or two away matches.
There was an exception in the 2023/24 campaign when Luton Town started away for two games because Kenilworth Road had not finished its refurbishment work to comply with Premier League regulations.
The three golden rules of the Premier League fixtures and 2025/26 schedule
Teams can be comfortable knowing that over the period of five matches, they will get an even split between home and away games.
The maximum amount of away games they can play in that span is two.
This saves an unfair advantage or disadvantage at a key moment in the season.
What is considered before the fixtures list is released?
Teams can make a special claim to play a fixture at home or away on a certain weekend.
A good example is when other sports or events take place in the same city or use the same stadium.
On 11 October, the Super League Grand Final takes place at Old Trafford, so you can expect United to be playing away that weekend.
What is considered before the fixtures list is released?
The Premier League considers policing capacity and the geographical proximity of teams.
So you will not see, for example, Liverpool and Everton playing at home on the same weekend. The same would apply to Manchester United and Manchester City, though the rule is not as stringent for London teams, given there are so many teams in the capital.
How is the 2025/26 fixture list created?
The Premier League maintains the creation of the fixtures list is a process that can take up to six months.
French IT company Atos, based just outside of Paris, are in charge.
Numerous factors and a great deal of information is considered before the order of matches can be put into the system.
So you can imagine international, Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League games are all taken into consideration.
Man City enter a new era at Club World Cup and two arrivals hold the key
With the Premier League fixtures set to be released later this morning, the Club World Cup rumbles on, with Man City making their debut later tonight...
In December, Real Madrid won the inaugural Intercontinental Cup. The implications for Manchester City were indirect but it does mean that, on a technicality, they enter the Club World Cup as defending champions. An expanded competition can seem a new one: under the old format, the last final – officially, anyway, given Real’s win over Pachuca came in a rebranded competition – was City’s 4-0 walloping of Fluminense in Saudi Arabia.
It was City’s fifth trophy of 2023. It is not the only reason it feels like a different time. One of the goals came from Phil Foden, then on fire. Julian Alvarez bookended the scoring with a brace, but he now leads the line for Atletico Madrid. The silverware was lifted by Kyle Walker, but the captain isn’t even part of the squad City are taking to the United States after spending the second half of the season on loan at AC Milan. Jack Grealish, who started against Fluminense, didn’t make the plane this summer either.
Whatever the competition is called, there was the sense that, 18 months ago, City were entitled to call themselves the world’s best. Hindsight shows it was one of the last triumphs of a team; they won that season’s Premier League but even men as perceptive as Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain failed to notice the evidence of decline until it was too late.
Man City enter a new era at Club World Cup and two arrivals hold the key
Liverpool ready to defend their title after Reds cruised to title in Arne Slot's debut campaign
German superstar Florian Wirtz is set to join Liverpool in a deal that could see him become the most expensive player ever signed by a Premier League club.
The 22-year-old, who has become one of the most coveted players in world football during his time at Bayer Leverkusen, was a target for Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, though Arne Slot’s side quickly moved to the front of the race for his signature.
Leverkusen had wanted €150m, or £126m, and previously rejected two bids from the Premier League champions. But Liverpool have agreed to sign Wirtz for an initial £100m, potentially rising to £116m, making him their club-record signing.
Wirtz, who was an integral part of Leverkusen’s undefeated run to a Bundesliga title in 2023/24, has scored 57 goals in 197 games for the club, as well as seven goals in 31 appearances for his national side.
But why has the German picked Liverpool as his next club, and when will the deal be finalised?
Beating City, PSR and the No 10: Inside Liverpool’s record transfer for Florian Wirtz
Premier League set to release fixtures on Wednesday morning
When are the Premier League fixtures announced?
The fixtures for the 2025-26 Premier League season will be confirmed at 9am on Wednesday 18 June.
When does the 2025-26 season start and end?
The campaign will begin on the weekend of 16 and 17 August, 83 days after the end of the last campaign. Premier League bosses have refused to give Chelsea and Manchester City extra time off with the two clubs providing English representation at the Club World Cup.
The season will run until Sunday 24 May 2026 and consist of 33 weekends and five midweek rounds.
Premier League set to return with host of new stars
The Premier League will return in August with a host of new stars.
The biggest will likely be Florian Wirtz, with Liverpool set to break the English transfer record in a £116m deal with Bayer Leverkusen.
Those deals already done, with Premier League debutants, include: Man City’s Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, Chelsea’s Dario Essugo and Estevao, Liverpool’s Jeremie Frimpong and Brighton striker Charalampos Kostoulas.
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