Debate: The Christmas compromise

LONDON, England (CNN) -- As you feast excessively and loosen your belt to pack in dessert this Christmas, hundreds of professional sportsmen and women will be doing exactly the opposite.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day sport is a popular phenomenon across the globe. While basketball dominates Christmas Day in the U.S., cricket rules Boxing Day in Australia and New Zealand, and football is a pretty big deal in Europe -- particularly Britain on the 26th.

In fact, this Boxing Day will see a full set of Premier League football fixtures, meaning those who are playing on the day will need to compromise their Christmas for the benefit of the following day's action.

Do you think sport should be played on Christmas Day or Boxing Day?

A number of Premier League clubs told CNN that their team would have light training sessions Thursday, and that Christmas Day was "just an ordinary training day" as far as they were concerned.

Fulham FC said it would hold a full training session ahead of its match with London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

One of the teams to be hit the hardest this Christmas is Stoke City. Not only do they have to face new world club champions Manchester United on Boxing Day, they also have the earliest start -- a 12.45 kickoff.

A Stoke City spokesman told CNN the fixture would mean several festive season compromises for the players.

"The guys are going to be meeting up in the evening (on Christmas Day) and going to stay in a hotel to start preparing for the match," he said.

Not only would that mean an evening away from the family, but they would also have to "tone down" the lunch-time meal, he said.

"They can eat some Christmas dinner, but they won't be able to have too much," the spokesman said.

Following the match Stoke City are then traveling straight down to London where they will begin preparing for their next match with West Ham United.

While it is quite a compromise, the situation isn't too bad for Stoke City players when compared to that of Reading in 2006.

During that Premier League season Reading manager Steve Coppell outlawed Christmas shopping and seeing friends at home or away in the festive season for his players.

And it's not just the players who will feel the impact of their chosen sport at Christmas -- many football fans will also be affected by the Boxing Day fixtures as they make their way to away matches in order to support their team.

So, for both football players and their fans, the Christmas compromise in 2008 is set to be one of the biggest yet.

However, with no matches on Christmas Day the footballers can still count themselves lucky that they aren't NBA basketballers.

Tell us what you think of sport during the festive season in the Sound Off box below. We'll publish the best comments.