You’d think the math is easy. 20 teams. Home and away. 380 total matches. But if you're actually trying to track premier league games per season, the numbers start to get messy the second you look at how the calendar actually functions.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a logistical nightmare.
Most fans just tune in on a Saturday morning, grab a coffee, and expect the ball to be rolling. They don't think about the fact that since 1995, the league has been locked into this 38-game-per-team structure. Before that? It was a different beast entirely. We used to have 22 teams. That meant 42 games. Imagine trying to cram that into the modern schedule with the Champions League expanded to a "Swiss Model" and the Club World Cup looming over everything like a dark cloud. Players would literally collapse.
The 380-Match Grind: Breaking Down Premier League Games Per Season
The magic number is 380. That is the total volume of premier league games per season across the entire flight. Each of the 20 clubs plays 19 games at home and 19 away.
But here is the thing.
The distribution is never "even." You’ve got the festive period—that frantic, wonderful, exhausting blur between Boxing Day and New Year’s—where teams might play three times in seven days. Then you’ve got the desert of the international break. It’s a feast or famine situation. When people search for how many games are in a season, they’re usually looking for the 38-game figure for their specific team, but the broader ecosystem is way more complex.
Take the 2022/23 season as a weird outlier. The Winter World Cup in Qatar completely shattered the rhythm. We saw a massive mid-season hiatus that forced the league to condense games into a smaller window. It proved that while the number of games stays the same, the density is what kills.
Why the 38-game format is actually under threat
There is constant chatter about "Project Big Picture" or various Super League iterations that want to trim the league down to 18 teams. Why? To make room for more lucrative European nights. If the Premier League dropped to 18 teams, the total premier league games per season would plummet from 380 to 306.
That is 74 fewer matches.
Think about the lost TV revenue. Sky Sports and TNT Sports (formerly BT) pay billions because of the volume. Each game is a product. Broadcasters hate the idea of fewer games, even if managers like Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola have spent years shouting into microphones about player welfare. It’s a tug-of-war between the balance sheet and the hamstring.
The Wednesday Night Problem and TV Scheduling
Ever noticed how some seasons feel longer than others? It's usually because of the "games in hand" phenomenon. Because of the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, matches get moved constantly. By March, the table usually looks like a mess. You’ll have Manchester City on 28 games played and Brighton on 25.
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It makes the "per season" metric feel like a moving target.
Technically, the season spans 38 gameweeks. But a gameweek isn't always a week. Sometimes a "gameweek" is spread over ten days to accommodate Monday Night Football and the Friday night slot. It’s all designed to ensure that as many premier league games per season as possible are televised individually rather than being hidden behind the 3:00 PM blackout rule in the UK.
A historical look at the volume
- 1992 to 1995: 22 clubs, 42 games each. (Total matches: 462)
- 1995 to Present: 20 clubs, 38 games each. (Total matches: 380)
The shift in 1995 was a massive turning point. It wasn't just about player fatigue; it was about quality. The theory was that fewer games would lead to higher intensity. Looking at the data from Opta and the sheer speed of the modern game, that's largely been proven right. A 1993 match looks like it’s played in slow motion compared to a 2024 North London Derby.
How many games does a "Big Six" player actually play?
If you're a starter for a team like Liverpool or Arsenal, the "38 games" figure is a lie. It’s the floor, not the ceiling.
A player in a successful Premier League side is looking at a much higher workload:
- Premier League: 38 games
- Champions League: 10–15 games (with the new format)
- FA Cup: 1–6 games
- Carabao Cup: 1–6 games
- International duty: 8–12 games
You are looking at 60+ appearances. The premier league games per season represent only about 60% of their total annual workload. This is why "squad rotation" has gone from a luxury to a basic requirement for survival. If you don't have two starting-quality left-backs, you aren't winning the league. Period.
The Financial Impact of Game Volume
Basically, every single one of those 380 games is worth roughly £10 million in domestic broadcasting rights alone when you average out the current £6.7 billion deal. This is why the league is so protective of the 38-game format. Reducing the number of games isn't just a sporting decision; it's a massive hit to the collective wallet of the 20 member clubs.
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Even the relegated teams walk away with over £100 million. That doesn't happen in the Bundesliga (34 games) or Ligue 1 (recently moved to 18 teams/34 games). The Premier League's insistence on 380 games is its greatest financial weapon and its players' greatest physical burden.
What most fans get wrong about the schedule
People think the schedule is random. It isn't. It’s handled by a company called Atos, using a "grid" system. They have to account for "pairing." For example, Liverpool and Everton can't both play at home on the same day because the local police force can't handle it. The same goes for Arsenal and Tottenham.
When you look at the premier league games per season, you're seeing a jigsaw puzzle that took six months to build.
There are also "golden rules" for the schedule:
- A team can never play more than two consecutive home or away games.
- You will always play a 50/50 split of home and away games over any given 10-game stretch.
- Travel is minimized on Boxing Day (theoretically, though fans often disagree).
The reality of the "Extra" games
Then there is the stuff that technically isn't a Premier League game but feels like one. The Community Shield? It’s a glorified friendly, but the stats-heads count it. The Play-Off Final in the Championship is often called "the richest game in football" because it’s the gateway to those 38 Premier League fixtures.
But once you’re in, the clock starts ticking.
If a team gets relegated, they lose access to that 38-game goldmine. The gap between the Premier League and the Championship is widening specifically because the revenue per game in the top flight is so astronomical. It’s not just about playing football; it’s about participating in a global entertainment product that runs 380 episodes a year.
Is the 38-game season sustainable?
Probably not. Not in its current form.
The physical data is starting to show a "red zone" for players. We are seeing more ACL tears and muscle injuries in the first three months of the season than ever before. FIFA and UEFA keep adding games to their competitions, but the Premier League is the one that has to fit 38 matches into the gaps. Something has to give. Either the domestic cups will have to be scrapped (goodbye, Carabao Cup), or the league will eventually have to shrink.
Navigating the Season: Practical Tips for Fans and Analysts
If you are tracking premier league games per season for betting, fantasy football, or just pure nerdiness, you need to look at "Density Windows."
Don't just look at the 38-game total. Look at the "Games per 30 Days" metric.
- The Red Zone: December 15th to January 2nd.
- The Survival Zone: February (post-January transfer window fatigue).
- The Sprint: April to May.
When you analyze a team’s chances, check their "rest days" between those 38 games. A team with 4 days of rest wins significantly more often than a team with 3. It sounds small, but over a 38-game season, those marginal gains determine who gets the trophy and who gets the drop.
To get a true handle on the season's progression, stop looking at the "Games Played" column as a uniform stat. Always check the "Games in Hand" first. A team sitting in 5th place with two games in hand is often in a better position than the team in 3rd. The premier league games per season aren't over until the final whistle on Sunday in May when all 10 matches kick off at the exact same time.
Check the official Premier League site for the "Fixture Difficulty Rating" (FDR). It’s a tool they provide for fantasy players, but it’s actually a great way to see how those 38 games are weighted. Some teams have a "front-loaded" season where they play all the top teams early, making their 38-game journey look much harder than it actually is in the long run.
Focus on the "swing months" of December and April. Those are the periods where the 38-game structure either makes or breaks a club’s ambitions.