The National League have confirmed a number of key dates ahead of the upcoming season.
Fixture release day will be on Wednesday 10th July… which gives you exactly one month to begin planning those lovely long away days… Gateshead on a Tuesday night, anyone?
The National League Premier will conclude on a Monday, because… reasons. Monday 5th May 2025 to be precise with a play-off schedule beginning soon after.
Festive fixtures will be on Saturday 21 December, with Boxing Day fixtures taking place as normal – fixtures will be scheduled on New Year’s Day (Wednesday 1 January) with clubs able to switch to New Year’s Eve (Tuesday 31 December) if both clubs reach an agreement to do so.
It’s also worth noting a slight change to the festive schedule; no longer will teams play each other back-to-back across Xmas and New Year, instead, the Boxing Day games will be reversed on Good Friday and the New Year Game will be replicated on Easter Monday.
At time of writing, the Football Association haven’t confirmed dates for the FA Cup, FA Trophy or any other silly competition including Premier League kids teams… we look forward to those.
Confirmation of key dates for the 2024/25 season:
Fixture Release Day – Wednesday 10 July
Opening Day – Saturday 10 August
National Closing Day – Monday 5 May
I hope they abandon the idea of NL teams playing the Premier League U21s teams, or they allow National League teams to choose not to enter such a daft competition. We have enough matches already to focus on and player welfare to think of.