8 World Football Holiday Traditions

We regular folks value our holiday traditions.

We drink egg nog.

We sing Christmas carols.

We flip out after spending too much time with the family.

Footballers have their traditions too. They might have more money and more exciting lifestyles than us, but we're all basically the same.

Well, you can decide about that. Here are eight holiday traditions from world football.

No Football!

Actually, the most widespread holiday tradition in world football is…not playing football at all.

Most leagues, besides those based in the British Isles, take a long break over the holidays.

Why? It gets pretty dang cold in Europe in December.

In Germany, the Bundesliga takes about six weeks off in December and January. In the Ukraine, the Premier League stops in December and the break runs clear through March.

Some English-based managers (notably Arsene Wenger) have been agitating for years to get a winter break.

Considering the FA's long history of aversion to change, it's doubtful English football's governing body will change the schedule anytime soon.

Boxing Day

Americans don't celebrate Boxing Day, and we're not really sure what it's all about.

Are you supposed to box up all the presents you don't want and take them back? That seems kind of petulant.

And anyway, we already act like materialistic, money-crazed idiots on other days.

In England, though, they play football matches on Boxing Day. It's a cool tradition, if you ask me. You spend Christmas with your family, then go watch some football the next day.

What could be better than that?

Crowded Fixture Lists

OK, so we've already gone over the fact that the English Premier League doesn't take a break in December.

Instead, the teams play a boatload of games. They play so many; in fact, that the holiday fixture list can make or break a season for some teams.

Take any random team as an example. We'll go with Manchester City since they're trying to win their first Premiership title.

Between now and Dec. 26 and Jan. 3 (that's just over a week), Manchester City will play the following league matches:

• Dec. 26 (Boxing Day): At West Bromwich Albion
• Jan. 1: At Sunderland
• Jan. 3: Home to Liverpool

Five days later, City play their first FA Cup match of the year, at home to Manchester United.

That's a crucial stretch for Roberto Mancini's team. In addition to wins and losses, they also have to worry about injuries due to the amount of games in a short period.

Snoods

World football's holiday traditions also have a dark side.

Snoods.

Everyone seems to hate them (as an aside, how you doin', Lucy Jones?), but footballers—based on the evidence, Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri are notorious offenders—can't seem to get enough of them.

Come on, guys, man up. I know it's cold, but you can warm yourself up by running.

If, for some reason, you want to add a snood to your wardrobe, here's a link.

The Relegation Curse

The team that sits at the bottom of the Premier League title on New Year's Day is almost assured of relegation.

There have been 19 Premier League seasons before the current one. Of the 19 teams who sat at the bottom of the Premier League table on New Year's Day, 16 have been relegated.

The only teams to escape relegation after being bottom of the table on New Year's Day were Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2010-11, West Bromwich Albion in 2004-05 and Southampton in 1996-97.

That's bad news for Bolton.

Here's the full list of the teams who were bottom of the league on New Year's Day:

• 2011 Wolverhampton Wanderers (not relegated)
• 2010 Portsmouth (relegated)
• 2009 West Bromwich Albion (relegated)
• 2008 Derby County (relegated)
• 2007 Watford (relegated)
• 2006 Sunderland (relegated)
• 2005 West Brom (not relegated)
• 2004 Wolves (relegated)
• 2003 West Ham United (relegated)
• 2002 Leicester City (relegated)
• 2001 Bradford City (relegated)
• 2000 Sheffield Wednesday (relegated)
• 1999 Nottingham Forest (relegated)
• 1998 Barnsley (relegated)
• 1997 Southampton (not relegated)
• 1996 Bolton Wanderers (relegated)
• 1995 Leicester City (relegated)
• 1994 Swindon Town (relegated)
• 1993 Nottingham Forest (relegated)

Frontrunners Falling Apart

Be careful, Manchester City.

In the first 19 Premier League seasons, the team that led the league on New Year's Day didn't always win the title.

Eight teams have won the title after leading the league at the new year. Eleven early leaders fell short.

Here's the full list of league leaders on New Year's Day, along with who won the league the following May.

• 2011 Manchester United (won title)
• 2010 Chelsea (won title)
• 2009 Liverpool (Manchester United won title)
• 2008 Arsenal (Manchester United won title)
• 2007 Manchester United (won title)
• 2006 Chelsea (won title)
• 2005 Chelsea (won title)
• 2004 Manchester United (Arsenal won title)
• 2003 Arsenal (Manchester United won title)
• 2002 Leeds United (Arsenal won title)
• 2001 Manchester United (won title)
• 2000 Leeds United (Manchester United won title)
• 1999 Aston Villa (Manchester United won title)
• 1998 Manchester United (Arsenal won title. They were sixth on New Year’s Day, 12 points back)
• 1997 Liverpool (Manchester United won title)
• 1996 Newcastle United (Manchester United won title)
• 1995 Blackburn Rovers (won title)
• 1994 Manchester United (won title)
• 1993 Norwich City (led the league despite having a goal differential of 0. Manchester United won title)

The Transfer Window

This is a newer tradition, but it's one that everyone loves.

FIFA introduced the two transfer windows during the 2002-03 season, and now, they're two of the highlights of the entire calendar.

Even if the deals don't always work out.

Party!

Footballers know how to throw parties. Around the holidays, some of them like to throw costume balls, because, you know, this is the 19th century.

Whatever. They're multi-millionaires.

But sometimes, the parties get a little out of control.

Not that that's a bad thing.