Football League Reveal Boxing Day Stats
The Football League is set to reach a Boxing Day milestone on Saturday, with just 69 goals needed to reach an all-time total of 10,000 Boxing Day Football League goals, while Manchester United have been revealed as the most successful ever Boxing Day side.
With Boxing Day matches traditionally being a fan favourite, the analysis has been revealed as part of The Football League’s ‘Come home for football’ campaign, encouraging people to go to a match and join what will be over one million supporters that will attend matches in the Sky Bet Football League over Christmas and New Year.
With 35 fixtures due to be played on Boxing Day this year across the Sky Bet Championship, League 1 and League 1, it is likely that one of them will see the 10,000 goal scored – with it then having taken 3,349 Football League Boxing Day fixtures and 127 years to reach that total.
The first ever Boxing Day games were played in 1888 in the inaugural season of The Football League. Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End were the first ever Boxing Day victors with away wins at Derby County and West Bromwich Albion respectively.
In the time since then, Manchester United are the side to have picked up most Boxing Day points having accumulated 137, ahead of Preston North End (118 points), West Bromwich Albion (117), Nottingham Forest (113) and Sheffield United (111).
Four clubs (Tottenham Hotpsur, Birmingham City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Huddersfield Town could reach the 100 point milestone from Boxing Day games which only 17 clubs have done so to date.
Of the current 92 league clubs, Burton Albion and Newport County have a 100% Boxing Day record, while Wycombe Wanderers have the lowest win percentage on Boxing Day, having won just four of 20 Boxing Day games played.
All-time Boxing Day result tables for the current 92 league clubs can be seen at http://po.st/BoxingDayStats.
To see the full list of all 108 of this season’s Sky Bet Football League festive fixtures visit www.comehomeforfootball.com.