Boxing Day - everything you need to know about the day when football is the best gift

While the rest of the world is celebrating the holidays, the Island is celebrating football - on Boxing Day, the first day after Christmas.

And so it has been for decades, his majesty's "soccer" Boxing Day has long been part of the culture of the United Kingdom, a tradition that annually delights all lovers of this game, not only the British.

The famous holiday brings eight Premier League matches and more than ten hours of football this year - everything starts from the field of champions Manchester City at 13.30:23 p.m., and will end around XNUMX p.m. in the leader's temple, "Anfield Road".

First match in 1860, tradition since 1957.

Sheffield FC and Hallam, the first and second oldest clubs that still exist today, will go down in history as the first to play a match on Boxing Day - it was 164 years ago at the Hallam Stadium, and Sheffield won 2:0. That's when the oldest derby was born, since it was about two local clubs.

Probably not much importance was attached to the fact that the match was played on December 26, but as the years passed and football slowly became a phenomenon, Boxing Day became its trademark.

For almost a hundred years, it was played on that date, but also on Christmas, until in 1957 the matches on the biggest Christian holiday were canceled and since then it has been regularly played on Boxing Day.

In the beginning, care was taken to meet local rivals in order to avoid traveling on a holiday, but with the development of traffic, this is no longer the case.

Unforgettable December 26, 1963.

Practically every boxing day brings memorable matches, but the round played in 1963 remains special, for all time...

As many as 26 goals were scored in ten matches of the English elite level on December 66, and unreal results were recorded, such as the victory of Fulham against Ipswich (10:1), the defeat of Manchester United against Burnley (6:1), West Ham in London against Blackburn ( 2:8) or a draw between West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham (4:4).

Six players then scored a hat-trick, and four earned suspensions, while I'm going Legat, the Fulham winger, scored three goals in three minutes.

To make it all the more unreal when it comes to the 10:1 between Fulham and Ipswich - the club known today as the "tractor boys" only 18 months earlier became champions of England, and were humiliated by a team that scored 23 goals in 25 games before that .

And that's not the end - the return matches of these games were played just two later, and Ipswich took revenge on Fulham, West Ham managed to knock down Blackburn, while United erased the 6:1 defeat from Burnley with a 5:1 triumph over the same rival.

United and Liverpool without gifts for rivals

Boxing Day as a holiday was created when the rich British gave gifts to the poorer ones the day after Christmas. In recent decades, it has been a gift day for everyone, and when it comes to football, the two biggest British clubs, Liverpool and Manchester United, have rarely given away points to their rivals.

The "Devils" from "Old Trafford" are also the most successful team on Boxing Day since the reorganization of the Premier League in 1992, since on this date they celebrated 21 times, followed by their rivals from "Anfield" with 17 triumphs.

On the other hand, Newcastle and Aston Villa are not really enjoying this holiday, considering that they have recorded 15 and 14 defeats respectively.

And the poll conducted by "Lottoland Sportsbook" shows that the British people don't mind spending the holiday with their favorite team or spending the whole day in front of the TV screen. According to him, four out of ten respondents said that they look forward to football matches on Boxing Day more than any other during the year.

They would be happy to wake up from the nightmare, reds to keep the advantage

This year's program on Boxing Day starts from the east of Manchester, where City against Everton will try to forget as much as possible the unreal black streak during which he registered nine defeats since the end of October.

And while the champion is in an unprecedented crisis, the leader Liverpool is flying, so in the last match of the day against Leicester, they will want to preserve their advantage at the top compared to their rivals.

Between these two matches will be played between 16:18.30 and XNUMX:XNUMX, with several interesting duels such as the local derby between Chelsea and Fulham, then Newcastle and Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham, while many are interested in whether the unconvincing United and the friendly Wolverhampton will continue away from home. the tradition of winning on Boxing Day.

- Does it bother me that it is played during the holidays? Guys, at the moment I'm not interested in holidays, only how to win - said the coach of the "Devils" Reuben Amorim.

SCHEDULE

Manchester City - Everton (13.30)

Bornmut - K. Palas (16.00)

Chelsea - Fulham (16.00)

Newcastle - Aston Villa (16.00)

Nottingham Forest - Tottenham (16.00)

Southampton - West Ham (16.00)

Wolverhampton - Manchester United (18.30)

Liverpool - Leicester (21.00pm)