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It is the season of good cheer and there will be plenty of cheering for sports fans this Christmas and New Year.
In a packed programme of sporting events to watch on TV, as ever, football provides the centrepiece of the festive offering with the English Premier League resuming after taking a break for the World Cup. Starting back on Boxing Day, Premier League matches continue throughout the holiday season. There’s also Scottish Premiership and English Football League action.
If football is the main course of the Christmas TV menu, then there are plenty of delicious side dishes in the form of rugby union, NFL, NBA and that other Christmas staple, the World Darts Championship. All times below are GMT.
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26 December-5 January
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There will be seven fixtures on the traditional Boxing Day football feast. Brentford host London rivals Tottenham in the lunchtime game at 12.30pm, followed by four 3pm fixtures. Then in the evening Aston Villa take on Liverpool at 5.30pm and Arsenal play West Ham at 8pm. All games in matchweek 17 will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video. Premier League matchweeks 18 and 19 will then see fixtures continue throughout the Christmas and New Year period, with selected games chosen for live coverage on Sky Sports and BT Sport.
All times below are GMT
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26 December-2 January
Glasgow rivals Rangers and Celtic face each other on 2 January
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24 December-1 January
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26 December-1 January
The Welsh Grand National is held at Chepstow on 27 December
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ITV Racing’s Christmas Festival has six days of top-class racing. There will be more than 18 hours of live coverage and action from 14 race meetings with 41 races shown in total. Here’s the pick of the big races to watch on ITV over the festive period.
Live from Kempton Park and Wetherby on ITV1 from 12.30pm to 3pm.
Live from Kempton Park and Chepstow on ITV4 from 12.30pm to 3.30pm.
Live from Leopardstown and Leicester on ITV4 from 12.45pm to 3.30pm.
Live from Leopardstown and Doncaster on ITV4 from 12.45pm to 3.30pm.
Live from Newbury, Warwick and Lingfield on ITV4 from 1pm to 4pm.
Live from Cheltenham, Musselburgh and Tramore on ITV1 from 1pm to 3.30pm.
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25 December-3 January
The winners of the NFL Super Bowl lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy
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Not many sports play their fixtures on Christmas Day, but in the NFL it’s a huge tradition. Week 16 of the regular season will see matches played from 23-27 December, while there will also be Week 17 fixtures played from 30 December to 3 January. Here’s the UK TV schedule for live NFL coverage on Sky Sports. All times GMT.
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24 December-2 January
The New York Knicks will host the Philadelphia 76ers on Christmas Day
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Another US sport that has an action-packed schedule over Christmas is the NBA. In the UK Sky Sports will have live festive coverage of the basketball games Stateside.
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27 December-3 January
Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright won the 2021-2022 World Darts Championship
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After a three-day break for Christmas, the 2022-2023 PDC World Darts Championship resumes with the third round starting on Tuesday 27 December. Taking place at Alexandra Palace in London, the final of the World Darts Championship is on Tuesday 3 January. Sky Sports will show live coverage.
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