Buy Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest tickets for the 2026/27 Season, with Old Trafford hosting Forest on Saturday 27 December 2026 at 15:00 as the fixture list stands. Boxing Day at Old Trafford is the single most requested home date of the football year for reasons that have nothing to do with the opponent, and this season the fixture computer has handed it to a side United have never drawn with in the Premier League at this ground.
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Demand here is structural rather than occasional. Seats for Manchester United at Old Trafford are allocated to season ticket holders first and then to members through ballots, with a general sale happening only when anything survives both stages. The season ticket waiting list runs to roughly 120,000 names, which tells you how much of the ground is spoken for before a fixture is even announced.
Context matters for a buyer too. United are in the Champions League league phase this season while Forest have no European football, so this is a rare midwinter Saturday when the hosts have no continental fixture bracketing it and the full focus lands on the league. Boxing Day football in a stadium holding just under 75,000 needs no further selling than that.
The access ladder is short and steep. Season ticket holders apply first for every home league match, and members holding one of the club's paid tiers then enter ballots for what is left. A general sale opens only if tickets remain after both stages. For a Boxing Day fixture that final stage frequently does not arrive at all.
Membership itself is tiered, running from a junior tier through Lite and Full up to Premium, and the tier you hold affects how early you are considered. None of it guarantees anything. It buys you a place in a queue behind tens of thousands of season ticket holders for a ground where the waiting list for those seats is larger than the stadium.
The opponent does not soften it. Nottingham Forest are barely seventy miles down the road, which makes the roughly 3,000 away seats in the corner between the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and the East Stand an easy sell rather than a struggle. Forest supporters have also had recent reasons to travel in hope, which was not true for most of the past three decades.
Supply does not flex to meet any of this. Old Trafford seats just under 75,000 across stands built in different decades, and the club has spent years discussing a replacement ground rather than expanding the current one. Whatever happens to that plan, it changes nothing about the number of seats available on 26 December 2026, which is the same number available on any other Saturday.
Boxing Day itself is the multiplier. It is the fixture families book as a Christmas present, the one overseas visitors time their December trips around and the one where a significant share of season ticket holders actually turn up rather than releasing their seat. Compare the Manchester United vs Liverpool tickets window, which is the one home date that generates more noise, and this sits right behind it on the demand ladder for very different reasons.
Yes, and for most buyers it is the only realistic route. The club's own path asks you to hold a paid membership, enter a ballot and accept the outcome, with no pricing advantage over face value if you win and no fallback if you do not. For a visitor planning a trip around a specific date, that is not a plan.
There is one club-run mechanism worth understanding. Season ticket holders who cannot attend can return their seat for resale to other supporters, and that inventory reaches the market in bursts as matchday approaches. It is the reason a fixture that looked closed in September can show movement in mid-December, but it also means availability arrives unpredictably rather than steadily.
Away supporters sit in a separate process entirely. Forest's allocation is distributed by Forest rather than by United and issued to their own members in loyalty order. It comes with the usual conditions on colours and identification. Buying into a home section while wearing visiting colours is a good way to be turned away at the turnstile.
That is where a verified resale marketplace earns its place. Buying through 1BoxOffice requires no membership tier, no ballot entry and no loyalty points. Listings come from verified sellers, and every order is covered by a 150% money-back guarantee.
Five factors set the number on a listing. Seat location leads, then demand, then fixture timing, then competition context and finally whether hospitality is attached. United price their home matches in categories by opponent, which puts a Boxing Day league fixture against a mid-table visitor somewhere in the middle of their ladder rather than at the top of it.
The club's published category bands run from roughly £37 at the lower end of a Category C match to £97 at the top of a Category A fixture, with season tickets costing between about £551 and £1,007 across the campaign. Those are the floors. Boxing Day scarcity, not the opponent's profile, is what lifts resale above them on this date.
| Ticket Type | Resale Price Range | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Stand and quadrant corners | £110 – £190 | Buyers who want in at the lowest outlay | Corner positions with an angled view of the near goal. The widest late availability in the ground. |
| Stretford End | £140 – £250 | Atmosphere ahead of sightline | Roughly 12,000 behind the west goal and the loudest part of Old Trafford. Rarely reaches open sale. |
| Sir Alex Ferguson Stand | £150 – £270 | Height and a full view of the pitch | The largest stand at around 26,000 across three tiers. Upper rows are a long climb and a clean view. |
| Sir Bobby Charlton Stand central | £220 – £420 | Sightline first | The main stand on the halfway line with the tunnel and the dugouts below. The most expensive general admission here. |
| Hospitality and executive suites | £450 – £1,200+ | Clients, groups and Christmas occasions | Dining, bar service and a dedicated entrance. Priced per person and sold in pairs or larger. |
Prices reflect typical resale ranges and may change as demand and availability shift closer to the match.
Old Trafford is a bowl built in stages, and the stands are noticeably unequal as a result. The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand runs three tiers down one side and dwarfs everything else, the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand faces it in two, the Stretford End sits behind the west goal and the East Stand closes the ground, with filled quadrants linking the north side to both ends. The Old Trafford seating plan shows how the blocks divide across those tiers.
Wider availability at the ground across the rest of the season sits on the Old Trafford tickets listings, which is worth a look if Boxing Day proves impossible and another home fixture would do instead.
| Area | What It Suits | Pricing Bracket | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stretford End | First-time visitors chasing the noise | Mid | Around 12,000 behind the west goal. The songs start here and the far goal is a long way off. Very little reaches open sale. |
| Sir Alex Ferguson Stand lower | Close to the touchline | Mid | Pitch level along the north side. Immediate and loud, though the low angle hides play on the far touchline. |
| Sir Alex Ferguson Stand upper | Buyers who watch the shape of a game | Mid to upper | The highest vantage point in the ground and a serious climb. The cleanest view Old Trafford offers at general admission prices. |
| Sir Bobby Charlton Stand | Comfort and the halfway line | Upper | Roughly 11,500 in two tiers, with the tunnel and dugouts below. Where most hospitality sits. |
| East Stand and quadrants | Groups and budget-conscious buyers | Lower to mid | Around 11,500 in the East Stand plus two filled corners of roughly 5,000 each. Angled views and the widest late availability. |
| Away corner | Nottingham Forest supporters only | Fixed by allocation | Roughly 3,000 seats in the corner between the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and the East Stand, entered through the East gates. Forest colours belong here and nowhere else. |
Two features of the ground shape seat choice more than most buyers expect. The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand is more than twice the size of the stand opposite it, so a listing described as a side view could be anything from a low pitch-level seat to a place three tiers up. And the filled quadrants mean the corners are proper seating blocks rather than dead space, which is where a good deal of the affordable inventory sits.
Neutrals and undecided visitors should take the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand upper or the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand. You see both goals, you get the full sound of the Stretford End without sitting inside it and the colours question never arises. Families will find the quadrants calmer than either end while keeping most of the occasion.
Old Trafford carries a deep hospitality programme, and Boxing Day is one of the dates it sells out first. The products range from a padded seat with a concourse meal deal through to five-course dining with a champagne reception, and they sit in different stands rather than all clustering on one side.
| Hospitality Option | Typical Buyer | Main Appeal |
|---|---|---|
| North West Quadrant Ticket Plus | Families and home supporters | Padded seating in the quadrant with a concourse meal deal, a programme and museum entry on a non-matchday. The entry point to the range. |
| International Suite | Visitors who want the match first and the extras after | Premium seating in the Stretford End with casual food and a complimentary bar for two hours once the final whistle goes. |
| Knights Lounge | Groups marking an occasion | Dining and a lounge built around the club's knighted figures, with the heritage on the walls rather than in a brochure. |
| Treble Suite | Corporate hosts and visiting executives | Five-course dining, champagne and canape reception, an inclusive bar, executive padded seating in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and parking. |
Two things worth knowing about hospitality on this date. Inventory that would linger into matchweek for an ordinary league fixture tends to be committed by late autumn for Boxing Day, because corporate buyers and agencies book the festive dates a long way out. And a 15:00 kickoff in Manchester in late December means the floodlights are on well before the end, so an indoor base before and after is worth more here than it would be in August.
United issue tickets digitally, so a seat arrives as a pass on a phone rather than as printed card. That makes the delivery method on a listing more important than it once was, and it makes the timing of delivery worth understanding before you book travel around it.
| Delivery Type | What to Confirm |
|---|---|
| Mobile transfer | Which app or wallet the seller uses and that the pass reaches your phone before you travel. The most common method for Premier League seats. |
| Email or e-ticket | That the file is a scannable pass rather than a screenshot and that it opens on the phone you will carry to the ground. |
| Collection in Manchester | The meeting point, the hours it runs and what the seller expects you to bring. Festive opening hours are shorter than usual. |
| Courier to a Manchester address | That your hotel accepts parcels and that the delivery window sits before Christmas rather than across it. |
Read the listing notes in full before you commit. They set out the delivery method, whether seats genuinely sit together and any condition attached to the block. Carry photo identification, charge your phone before you leave and load the pass while you still have wi-fi, because the approach to Old Trafford on a Boxing Day afternoon is a poor place to find out your battery has died.
1BoxOffice has operated as a verified marketplace since 2006, and every order is backed by a 150% money-back guarantee. Here is how a booking runs from first search to matchday.
Step1
Open the fixture and filter by stand
Load the listings for Saturday 26 December 2026 and narrow by stand before you narrow by price. Old Trafford's stands differ enough in height and angle that the stand decides the afternoon more than the row does.
Step2
Set up your account first
You can create an account in under a minute. Doing it before you find the listing you want matters more on a festive fixture, where good blocks move while you are still typing.
Step3
Read the block reference, not just the price
Two listings at the same money can be a tier apart in the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand or on opposite sides of a quadrant. Judge the block and row band together against the pricing table above.
Step4
Read the seller notes properly
The notes carry the delivery method, whether seats are genuinely adjacent and anything specific to the block. Two minutes here prevents most of what goes wrong later.
Step5
Choose your quantity carefully
Pairs are the standard unit and splitting one is often not permitted, because it would strand a single seat. Boxing Day groups of four or six should filter for that exact quantity from the start.
Step6
Confirm your details and pay
Enter the lead attendee's name as it appears on the identification they will carry. Digital passes are issued against a named account, so consistency between booking and traveller keeps entry simple.
Step7
Wait for confirmation
Your order confirmation arrives immediately. The seats follow the timetable set out in the listing, and over Christmas that timetable can sit closer to matchday than buyers expect.
Step8
Follow the order through to delivery
Use track order to see exactly where your booking sits. Raise anything that looks wrong in the week before Christmas rather than on the morning of the match.
Boxing Day travel in Britain is its own problem and it is worth planning around rather than hoping through. Most train operators run a reduced service or none at all on 26 December, so anyone arriving from London or the south should plan to be in Manchester by Christmas Eve rather than travelling on the day. That also makes a mobile transfer or e-ticket the sensible delivery choice, since a courier parcel arriving into a festive week is a gamble. Buyers coming from the Gulf and the wider MENA region should allow for the connection into Manchester and a short tram ride out to the ground, then treat the return leg as a separate problem with the same reduced timetable.
Seats together need confirming rather than assuming. Take the full quantity from a single listing if the group matters, because combining two listings rarely lands adjacent in a ground split across stands of very different sizes. Bear in mind too that Premier League festive fixtures are confirmed for broadcast in tranches and a Boxing Day match can move to 26 December evening or across to the 27th. Keep accommodation flexible and treat the 15:00 slot as the working plan until the festive schedule is locked.
This fixture has a statistical quirk that says more about it than any rivalry claim would. Manchester United and Nottingham Forest have met nine times in the Premier League at Old Trafford and every single one has produced a winner. No stalemates, no goalless afternoons, nothing settled by a shrug. Seven went to United and two to Forest, and even the recent ones have gone to the final stages.
The shape of the record is a story in two halves separated by a generation. Forest were a Premier League fixture in the competition's first decade, dropped out in 1999 and did not come back to Old Trafford in the league until December 2022. Their two wins here bookend that gap almost perfectly: one in 1994 and the next exactly thirty years later, in December 2024.
Forest's absence explains the gap rather than any change in the balance between the clubs. They spent twenty-three seasons outside the top flight before returning through the play-offs in 2022. Their first league visit back to Old Trafford came that December. The fixture that had been an ordinary part of the calendar in the 1990s became, for a generation of supporters on both sides, something they had never seen.
What makes the fixture worth a ticket is that the goals keep coming. The four league meetings since Forest returned in 2022 have produced eighteen goals between them at four and a half a game, with three of the four decided by a single goal. A Boxing Day crowd is not being asked to sit through a cagey afternoon here.
The figures below cover every Premier League meeting at Old Trafford with Manchester United as hosts, from the competition's first season to the most recent, and every total is calculated from the match-by-match record that follows.
| Metric | Total |
|---|---|
| Matches played | 9 |
| Manchester United wins | 7 |
| Nottingham Forest wins | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Manchester United goals | 26 |
| Nottingham Forest goals | 10 |
| Biggest Manchester United win | 5-0 |
| Biggest Nottingham Forest win | 1-2 and 2-3, both by a single goal |
| First Premier League meeting in scope | 27 January 1993 |
| Most recent meeting in scope | 17 May 2026 |
Figures compiled from Manchester United match archives, Premier League and UEFA competition records, ESPN match reports and Sports Mole head-to-head records.
Every Premier League match between the sides at Old Trafford with Manchester United as hosts, newest first. Cup ties and meetings at the City Ground are excluded, as are the seasons Forest spent outside the top flight.
| Date | Score |
|---|---|
| 17 May 2026 | 3-2 |
| 07 Dec 2024 | 2-3 |
| 26 Aug 2023 | 3-2 |
| 27 Dec 2022 | 3-0 |
| 26 Dec 1998 | 3-0 |
| 14 Sep 1996 | 4-1 |
| 28 Apr 1996 | 5-0 |
| 17 Dec 1994 | 1-2 |
| 27 Jan 1993 | 2-0 |
Scores shown from Manchester United's perspective. Each result cross-referenced against at least two independent match records.
Not through a resale marketplace. Membership tiers and ballots govern the club's own sale process, which is a separate route with its own queue and no guarantee at the end of it.
Earlier than for an ordinary match. Festive dates draw travel bookings months out, and the returned-seat flow that helps in other weeks is thinner over Christmas because fewer holders give up this one.
Visiting supporters are housed in the corner between the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand and the East Stand, entered through the East gates. Away colours belong there only, and stewards act on them in home areas.
Expect a digital pass on a phone rather than a printed ticket, either transferred in an app or sent as a scannable file. The listing states the method and the timing before you pay.
Yes, provided you take the full quantity from one listing. Old Trafford is divided across stands of very different sizes, so two separate listings can land a group in completely different parts of the ground.
Sources: Manchester United official ticketing, membership, hospitality and match archive information, Premier League and UEFA competition records, ESPN match reports, Sports Mole head-to-head records and Football Ground Guide stadium information.