Manchester City ended the 2023/24 season as Premier League champions, when Pep Guardiola’s team defended their crown and sealed a record-breaking fourth successive English top-flight title.
However, with a busy summer of football on the schedule, the gap between the end of that campaign and the start of the 2024/25 season is tight, with Euro 2024 and the Copa America filling the void for fans.
Ipswich Town have secured a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002 for the new season, with Leicester City and Southampton also back in the big time.
There will also be plenty of other changes for the new campaign, as Liverpool prepare for life after Jurgen Klopp, but VAR will remain in place following a Premier League vote on its usage.
The first step on the road to the new season is for the schedule of fixtures to be set, and that in itself comes with plenty of discussion. But exactly how are those games decided, and is the famous ‘fixture computer’ really a thing? The Sporting News has the answers…
MORE: Teams promoted to Premier League for 2024/25 | Golden Boot 2023/24: Full list of EPL top scorers
How is Premier League schedule of fixtures decided?
Despite the fan excitement surrounding the infamous ‘fixture computer’ producing surprises each season, the Premier League scheduling is more structured than all that.
Within the scheduling plans, the Premier League are required to consider a host of variables, before releasing the final list.
Ahead of the allotting of Premier League games, schedulers input all FIFA/international windows, European club competitions and FA Cup/EFL Cup games, with the remaining slots reserved for Premier League matches.
The fixtures are then separated into “sequencing”, with five match weeks built at a time. Within each five-game block, teams receive three home games and two away, with the process reversed for the second set.
Each club is placed into a “pairing grid”, which confirms home games, with fixtures mixed randomly to determine the final details of each game.
This system prevents teams playing successive home or away games at the start or end of the season to avoid unfair advantages. Rules surrounding broadcasting prevent an exact replication of fixtures in the second half of the season, with Game Weeks 1 to 19 not repeated exactly.
What rules are applied to the Premier League fixture list?
Alongside rules to avoid “bunching” of games at either end of the campaign, there are also requirements on certain dates. Premier League restrictions on holiday period fixtures mean a team cannot play at home or away in both their Boxing Day and New Year’s Day games over the Christmas period.
There are also security and planning criteria on games involving clubs from the same city, with Liverpool/Everton or Manchester City/Manchester United required to rotate home fixtures, to avoid a “doubling up” at home in one day.
When will the 2024/25 Premier League fixtures be revealed?
The 2024/25 Premier League schedule is released on Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 9 a.m. BST. Here’s when and what time the fixture release will happen in various parts of the world:
| Region | Date | Time |
| UK | Tue, June 18 | 9:00 a.m. BST |
| USA/Canada | Tue, Jun. 18 | 4:00 a.m. ET |
| Australia | Tue, Jun. 18 | 6:00 p.m. AEST |
| India | Tue, Jun. 18 | 1:30 p.m. IST |
When will the 2024/25 Premier League start and finish?
The 2024/25 season is set to kick off on Saturday, August 17, but this could be adjusted to a Friday night start, on August 16.
The 2024/25 season will end on Sunday, May 25, which is a week later than 2023/24, with no major international tournament scheduled for 2025.
