When does the Premier League start? | Key dates for the 2024/25 Season

Tuesday 18 June 2024 by Jonathan Victoria Features

Happy fixture release day!

When does the Premier League start? | Key dates for the 2024/25 Season

The first part of the coming Premier League 2024/25 campaign has come, with the fixture list for the season released this morning (18th June).

2023/24 saw Manchester City set new history, becoming the first team to win four titles in a row, but were made to fight for it, with Arsenal and Liverpool both looking their equal throughout the year.

The 2024/25 is sure to bring even more excitement and entertainment, and now with the dates for the season revealed we can start counting down and looking forward to it all to begin.

When does the Premier League start?

The first Premier League game will be held as usual on Friday 16th August and will see the reigning FA Cup champions Manchester United host Fulham.

Also as usual, the season will run for nine months from that first Friday until the final round of games, which will be played on Sunday 25th May 2025.

Week 1 matchups

That Friday will kick things off for the year, with the rest of the weekend playing out like a normal Premier League weekend, with one early kickoff on Saturday, followed by a host of 3pm games, rounded off with a late kickoff that day.

Super Sunday will feature two games, while the remaining fixture of Matchday 1 will be played that Monday night.

Here is the full list of fixtures for matchday 1:

Friday 16th August

Manchester United vs Fulham, Old Trafford – 8pm on Sky Sports

Saturday 17th August

Ipswich vs Liverpool, Portman Road Stadium – 12:30pm on TNT Sports
Arsenal vs Wolves, Emirates Stadium – 3pm
Everton vs Brighton, Goodison Park – 3pm
Newcastle vs Southampton, St James’ Park – 3pm
Nottingham Forest vs Bournemouth, City Ground – 3pm
West Ham vs Aston Villa, London Stadium – 5:30pm on Sky Sports

Sunday 18th August

Brentford vs Crystal Palace, GtechCommunity Stadium – 2pm on Sky Sports
Chelsea vs Manchester City, Stamford Bridge – 4:30pm on Sky Sports

Monday 19th August

Leicester vs Tottenham, King Power Stadium – 8pm on Sky Sports

As always, the 3pm fixtures each Saturday for every matchday during the season will not be shown live in the UK.

Thankfully, the best games of the weekend have been saved for TV, with our feature game being Chelsea vs Manchester City. If the home side can keep up the form they found in the latter half of last season, the defending champs are sure to be in for a rough start.

Elsewhere, Leicester will no doubt be looking to reintroduce themselves to the league after a title-winning Championship campaign, although up against Spurs, that may be a tall order.

The full fixture list was released this morning, giving everyone the chance to give their thoughts and opinions on who has the easier starting schedule.

Liverpool is one such team that seems to have it easiest, with trusted stats site Opta Analyst giving their first five games a league-low 83.7 opponent average rating compared to Brentford, who seems to have the hardest with an 89.6 opponent average rating.

Key games in the year

Credit: The Manchester Derby's GREATEST goals featuring Beckham, Aguero & more! (Sky Sports Premier League, YouTube)

Throughout the year, there will be games that have elevated importance, be that a title contenders clash or a historied rivalry.

Manchester Derby

One of the most famous derbies in the world, the Manchester Derby has featured in the FA Cup final for the last two years and will add new chapters this season.

While City has been in another class to United for the last few seasons, they do often produce interesting clashes, and this year should be no different.

Man City vs Man United, Etihad Stadium – 14th December
Man United vs Man City, Old Trafford – 5th April

North London Derby

Arguably London’s biggest rivalry, the North London enemies Arsenal and Tottenham are no stranger to a fierce duel in this matchup.

Tottenham were caught between a rock and a hard place last year as they had their own fate as well as Arsenal’s title hopes in their hands late on as they faced Man City, with a draw or win essentially gifting the Gunners the title while a loss, which they ended up receiving, meant the lost out on a top four spot.

They will be hoping for more this season, while Arsenal will be aiming to go one better than the last two seasons and finally lift the title once more.

Tottenham vs Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – 14th September
Arsenal vs Tottenham, Emirates Stadium – 14th January

Merseyside Derby

Everton will host Liverpool one final time at the iconic Goodison Park this season before they move out to their new stadium for the 2025/26 season.

Last year they managed to beat Liverpool at Goodison to end the Reds’ title hopes, and with a now Klopp-less Liverpool, they may look to do the double this time around.

Everton vs Liverpool, Goodison Park – 7th December
Liverpool vs Everton, Anfield – 2nd April

Manchester United vs Liverpool

The neighbouring cities of Manchester and Liverpool have harboured a strong rivalry with their two historically main teams.

Man United and Liverpool are two of Englands most successful clubs of all time, and their rivalry runs deeper than many others.

Manchester United vs Liverpool, Old Trafford – 31st August
Liverpool s Manchester United, Anfield – 4th January

Arsenal vs Manchester City

The last two seasons has seen these two develop a rivalry through competition, with Arsenal coming close both years to beating City to the title.

The 2023/24 season came down to the final day but with an advantage to City. This coming campaign is sure to provide the same close finish, so both games against one another will have a lot of weight to them.

Manchester City vs Arsenal, Etihad Stadium – 21st September
Arsenal vs Manchester City, Emirates Stadium – 1st February

Transfer window dates

The transfer windows are the most exciting time of the year for news. Keeping up with Fabrizio Romano and seeing what rumours are swirling about your team is a big part of the fun.

The summer transfer window is currently open and has been since Friday 14th June, which is the same day as the start of Euro 2024. It will then close on Friday 30th August at 11pm BST.

The winter window will then come as standard during January, officially beginning Wednesday 1st January 2025 and ending at 11pm GMT on Monday 3rd February 2025.

International breaks

There will be several Internationals breaks throughout the season to break it up, with the first coming at the start of September.

The Nations League campaign will be the order of play for the breaks in 2024, while 2026 World Cup qualification games will come during the March International break.

Here are the dates for the International breaks during the season:

1st-9th September 2024
6th-14th October 2024
10th-18th November 2024
23rd-31st March 2025

Will there be a winter break?

To accommodate for the mid-August start, there is no winter break scheduled for the upcoming season.

A Christmas Eve fixture will also not be played again this year, after Chelsea and Wolves last season faced off in the first 24th December Premier League since 1995.

As well as this, the clubs have been assured that they will not play twice in less than 60 hours over the course of the Christmas and New Year period, which is notoriously known for its busy schedule due to league games, Carabao Cup and FA Cup fixtures.

FA Cup dates

Speaking of the FA Cup, the third round, the stage which all the Premier League clubs are introduced in, will take place on the weekend of 11th January 2025.

There will be the usual few weeks between rounds from that point until the Final, which interestingly is currently scheduled to come a week before the end of the Premier League season, being played on Saturday 17th May 2025.

Premier League on Sky Sports

Sky Sports have retained the rights to show the majority of games this season, with 128 games to be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League.

This includes all Friday and Monday night fixtures, as well as the 5:30pm kickoffs on Saturdays, and Super Sunday (two fixtures every Sunday, 2pm & 4:30pm).

If you’re not already a Sky customer and want to enjoy the Premier League this season without having to always be going down to your local pub, you’ll need to get Sky Sports for your TV at home.

There are multiple options for you to choose from so you can enjoy the services that Sky has to offer.

With any Sky Sports package, you won’t just get Premier League football, but all Sky Sports channels, which includes a total of 12 channels and features exclusive sports such as Formula 1, PGA Tour golf, ATP & WTA Tour tennis and more.

Sky Stream Entertainment & Netflix + Sky Sports

£42.00 a month (down from £61.00)Prices may change during contract

Sky without the dish!
158 channels in HD
Over 30,000 Box Set shows to enjoy
Exclusive live sport with Sky Sports, including Premier League, Formula 1 and PGA Tour golf
Includes a £30 gift voucher!
24-month contract
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Sky Stream Entertainment & Netflix + Sky Sports + UHD

£46.00 a month (down from £82.95)Prices may change during contract

Sky without the dish!
158 channels in HD
Over 30,000 Box Set shows to enjoy
Exclusive live sport with Sky Sports, including Premier League, Formula 1 and PGA Tour golf
Live sport in Ultra HD
Includes a £30 gift voucher!
24-month contract
No upfront cost

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Premier League on TNT Sports

Sky Sports isn’t the only provider to be showing games this season. TNT Sport is the only channel that will show the early kickoff games on Saturdays.

You can check out the TNT Sports packages we have available, or TNT Sport can be added to your Sky Sports package if you are looking to customise it.