Christmas Day Training: A Reality for Professional Footballers

Professional footballers in the Premier League routinely engage in training sessions on Christmas Day. While many European leagues observe a winter break of one to two weeks during the Christmas period, suspending matches and reducing training intensity, festive football has long been a firmly established tradition in Britain. Consequently, the majority of professional footballers are expected to train on Christmas Day. Michael Brown, a former midfielder for Sheffield United, Tottenham, and Fulham, conveyed to the BBC that “When you have your kids there playing with their new toys and you have to go training, that is a big sacrifice. It’s not about money – it’s just human nature.” Given that matches in the top-tier divisions of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, along with those in the English lower leagues, are all slated for Boxing Day, a training session on Christmas Day serves as the last chance for managers to ensure players’ fitness and refine their gameplan. Clubs conducting training on Christmas Day frequently share festive photographs online, depicting players adorned with Santa hats and reindeer noses. For teams scheduled to play at home on Boxing Day, Christmas Day training sessions usually occur in the morning or early afternoon, allowing players to return home to their families later in the day. However, the situation becomes more complex if a team is playing an away match on Boxing Day. It is common for clubs to stay overnight in a hotel before away matches, particularly when facing an early kick-off or a significant travel distance, which often involves a coach journey or flight followed by a hotel stay. Despite their clear advantages, some footballers find the necessity of being away from their families on Christmas Day challenging, a sentiment acknowledged by Brown. He stated, “I won’t lie, [training at Christmas] is psychologically a challenge not to feel a bit sorry for yourself.” He added, “Sometimes you think about everyone [else] having a good time, but you have to think how many people would swap with your position. You have to realise and think about what you are doing.” Nevertheless, not all players are required to report for duty on Christmas Day. Teams without a Boxing Day fixture frequently grant their squads the day off, opting to train on the 26th instead. This year, Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was among those fortunate enough to avoid Christmas Day training. The England international informed the BBC, prior to sustaining a hamstring injury that would sideline him for “many weeks,” that “We’re playing at home on the 27th so I haven’t got to travel anywhere so it’s perfect, I couldn’t have asked for more from Santa.” He continued, “I’ll be able to have a Christmas dinner for the first time in a while so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll spend it with my family so it’s going to be nice.” He also described his meal: “I have a little African twist in there. Some jollof rice, some pigs in blankets and then some turkey, a bit of gravy on the side, maybe one or two potatoes but no veggies. None of that. I’m happy with that to be fair.”