What is a fixture in football?

In football (soccer, and similarly in rugby and other league sports), a fixture is an officially scheduled match between two teams, fixed for a specific date, kick-off time, and venue, and published in the league's fixture list or fixture calendar for the season. The fixture list, typically released before the season begins by the league's governing body, sets out every team's full program of matches, showing which opponents they play at home and which away, across the matchweeks of the campaign. A "home fixture" is a game played at a club's own stadium, while an "away fixture" is played at the opponent's ground. Fixtures are created through a scheduling process that balances home and away games, avoids teams playing at home on the same day as a nearby rival, and accounts for stadium availability, European competitions, cup ties, and broadcasting arrangements. Fixtures can be postponed due to weather, cup conflicts, or other circumstances and are then "rearranged" to a new date. The term extends to related usages such as "fixture congestion" (too many matches crowded into a short period), "midweek fixture" (a match played Tuesday through Thursday), "a tricky fixture" (a difficult opponent), and "the festive fixtures" (the busy schedule of matches during the December holiday period). Fans eagerly await the release of new fixtures each summer, and the famous Christmas and New Year fixture lists in England are a cherished tradition. In American football, similarly, a scheduled game on the season's calendar can be called a fixture, though the term is far more common in British and international football.