EFL confirms fixture release datepublished at 14:38 BST 10 April
14:38 BST 10 April
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The 2026-27 EFL season will kick-off on August 7 with the opening round of the Carabao Cup
The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.
The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.
The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.
The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.
Rovers defensive duo return to trainingpublished at 09:43 BST 10 April
09:43 BST 10 April
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Blackburn Rovers head coach Michael O'Neill
Blackburn Rovers defenders Connor O'Riordan and Eiran Cashin have both returned to training and could feature in Saturday's game against Stoke City (15:00 BST), boss Michael O'Neill has confirmed.
O'Riordan has played just five games for Rovers since returning from his loan spell with Doncaster Rovers in January after picking up a thigh injury, while Cashin missed the Easter weekend programme with a groin problem.
"They're potential options for the weekend," O'Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"We will just see how things go for them over the next 24 hours and if there is no reaction and if they can train [on Friday] then they will come into contention."
Rovers will be bidding to increase the six-point cushion between themselves and the bottom three when they face O'Neill's former side at the weekend.
The Northern Irishman helped the Potters avoid relegation after taking over the club in November 2019, overseeing 143 games before his dismissal in August 2022.
"The club [Stoke] was not in a good moment because we had a lot of issues with financial fair play and how we would build the squad, which was challenging, but I think we left the club in a better place than we found it," O'Neill said.
"It was a great experience for me. It's a really good club, a lot of similarities between the clubs, a lot of good people at Stoke as there is here at Blackburn. It'll be nice to see some people again, but my only focus is try to get out of there with three points."
Pick of the stats: Stoke City v Blackburn Roverspublished at 09:56 BST 9 April
09:56 BST 9 April
Image source, Opta
Blackburn Rovers will look to pull further clear of the Championship relegation places when the visit Stoke City on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 15:00 BST).
Michael O'Neill's side were just one point above the drop zone after a 1-0 defeat to relegation rivals Oxford on 11 March but are unbeaten in the four games since (W2 D2) and are now six points ahead of Leicester in 22nd.
The Potters - who are 12 points behind the play-off spots and 13 clear of the drop - are on course for a mid-table finish.
None of Stoke's previous 15 home league games against Blackburn have finished level, with the Potters winning nine and losing six.
Blackburn have alternated between victory (3) and defeat (3) in their past six away league games against Stoke, losing 1-0 in this exact fixture last season.
Stoke have won their past two home league games – the Potters haven't won three on the bounce at home since April/August 2024, while in the same season they last did so in August/September 2021 under current Blackburn boss Michael O'Neill.
Blackburn Rovers have kept a clean sheet in their previous three league games, last going four without conceding in November/December 2024 (a run of five).
Stoke City's Sorba Thomas is the only player with both 10 goals and 10 assists in the Championship this season. The last player to achieve that in a league season (excl. play-offs) under manager Mark Robins was current Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres in 2022-23 at Coventry (21 goals, 10 assists).
Blackburn's £10m loss not 'that bad' - Maguirepublished at 16:26 BST 8 April
16:26 BST 8 April
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Maguire: 'It's like being the bank of mum and dad'
Blackburn Rovers have reported a loss of £10.4m loss during the 2024-25 season - but is it as bad as it seems?
The club has seen an uptick in their generated revenue but are spending 114% of those funds on player's wages and have also reported operating losses of £21.4m, with just £13m profited from player sales.
"The money coming into the club has gone up by 11% but the wages bill went up by the same amount and as a result of that they lost probably about £400,000 a week," football finance expert Kieran Maguire told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"If you take a look at the auditors' report that has specifically said that if the Venky's cannot extract money from India, we've got a big problem - but it looks like the recent pronouncements are a little more positive in that sense.
"I think the way to look at a football club owner, it's a bit like being the bank of mum and dad. It's this constantly willingness to provide the football club when the wages need paying every month."
However, given the context within the second tier, Rovers' losses are comparably tame.
"By Championship standards, it wasn't that bad," Maguire added.
"I think that's indicative of just how inoculated we all have become to football as a loss making industry and you don't have to be Dizzee Rascal to know that the finances of the Championship in particular are best described as completely Bonkers."
'Rovers will have taken outcome of Easter programme'published at 15:36 BST 7 April
15:36 BST 7 April
Andy Bayes BBC Radio Lancashire sports editor
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Had four points from six been offered to Blackburn Rovers boss Michael O'Neill before the Easter programme, he would almost certainly have taken them.
Two clean sheets across the double-header underlined his pragmatic approach, making his side as hard to beat as possible with resources stretched to the limit.
O'Neill is painfully short of options and he knows it. The timely return of Scott Wharton to the starting eleven has helped, but the problem remains: he wants to operate with a back five, yet has only three centre-backs available, with four others sidelined.
Across the two matches - a 1-0 win at Birmingham and a 0-0 draw with West Brom - Rovers named the same starting eleven on both occasions, with six players completing 180 minutes. Part show of confidence, part necessity, it reflected where O'Neill's trust now lies. Since his arrival, he has been clear that this is not the time to wait for players to show potential; he needs those who can cope at the level immediately.
Rovers were the only team in the bottom six to take maximum points from either game. Results elsewhere could hardly have been kinder, prompting suggestions that the stalemate with the Baggies was an opportunity missed. On the evidence on show, it wasn't.
It was a meeting of two sides intent on not losing. Nobody wanted to blink.
Rovers keeper Balazs Toth again enhanced his growing reputation with an outstanding first-half save from Aune Heggebo, and that proved decisive in securing a point apiece.
A half-time switch to 4-4-2 brought greater attacking intent, but a largely unemployed Max O'Leary remained untested.
Adam Forshaw and Moussa Baradji deserve praise for their energy and industry across the two games. Forshaw has completed three games in a row now, having not done since his Plymouth days in November 2024.
Baradji has yet to fully win over all of the Rovers faithful, but these were among his most promising performances as he pushes for a permanent move in the summer. There is ability there undoubtedly, it's about channelling it in the right way.
O'Neill will now look to offer his players some respite ahead of Saturday's visit to Stoke, the start of four season-defining fixtures squeezed into eleven days.
Southampton's FA Cup progress, combined with a Friday night home game against Coventry, is far from ideal - but if results fall their way, Rovers could steal a march on those around them.
The results mean Rovers are six points above the relegation places with five games to play.
"Overall we have to be happy with four points from the two games," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"I didn't think we played as well today - there's always a worry after what the players put into the game on Friday that they can't get to the same level physically.
"I think first half we struggled a little bit with that, gave the ball away a little bit cheaply, and the goalkeeper makes an amazing save for us, which we needed at that point in time.
"But second half I thought we were a lot better. I thought we looked like the team more likely to win the game, but we didn't maybe make the best of some of the opportunities that we had.
"So overall we have to be pleased with a clean sheet. It keeps us six points clear of the teams that are in the bottom three and chalks another game off."
Fellow strugglers Portsmouth and West Bromwich Albion also had players in the Northern Ireland squad with Championship fixtures taking place on Friday and Monday.
"That's football, people have opinions and a lot of them are ill-informed if I'm honest," O'Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.
"The players I pick for my international squad, from a limited pool of players are consistently in my international squad.
"The clubs think it was a conflict of interest I may play the players and risk them against Wales - none of the players played 90 minutes and some didn't pay in the first game [a World Cup play-off loss to Italy]."
Blackburn are four points clear of the relegation zone with seven games remaining and visit Birmingham City on Friday (15:00 BST) with O'Neill now keen to focus on keeping Rovers in the Championship.
"I thought it was a nonsense and to be honest the best thing for me is to ignore stuff like that because it's not important, my focus is here now," he added.
"I won't have another international game until the end of May or start of June so my focus is here now and I tend not to give too much air time to that type of opinion."
Championship clubs spend more than £69m on agents feespublished at 17:15 BST 1 April
17:15 BST 1 April
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Ipswich signed Sindre Walle Egeli for a club record £17.5m in January
Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.
The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.
Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.
Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.
Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.
Atcheson makes Northern Ireland debut as Donley scorespublished at 10:47 BST 1 April
10:47 BST 1 April
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Blackburn Rovers defender Tom Atcheson made his debut for Northern Ireland on Tuesday after Oxford United forward Jamie Donley opened the scoring during their 1-1 draw with Wales.
The 19-year-old came on in the 80th minute to earn his maiden appearance for the international side after receiving his first senior call-up from boss Michael O'Neill, who manages both Northern Ireland and Rovers.
Atcheson was the only Rovers player to have been named in the squad amid concerns regarding O'Neill's dual role.
Oxford are understood to have raised a complaint of conflict of interest after four of their players were called up for the international side, including goalscorer Donley.
Pick of the stats: Birmingham City v Blackburn Roverspublished at 09:16 BST 1 April
09:16 BST 1 April
Blackburn Rovers will aim to gain further ground on the bottom three when they make the trip to St Andrew's on Friday (15:00 BST).
Rovers are currently four points clear of 22nd placed Leicester City but have had limited time with boss Michael O'Neill during the international break, who was fulfilling his duties as Northern Ireland boss.
Meanwhile Blues are hoping to keep their faint hopes of the play-offs going by remaining imperious on home soil.
Birmingham have won three of their last four league games against Blackburn (L1), as many as they had in their previous 20. They're looking to complete their first league double over Rovers since 1950-51.
Blackburn have lost 1-0 in their last two away league games against Birmingham, last going three visits without a goal between 1987 and 2000.
Birmingham have lost four of their last six league games (W1 D1), having been unbeaten in their previous eight before this (W5 D3).
Blackburn have won 56% of their points away from home this season (24/43). Ignoring point deductions, only Sheffield Wednesday (58%) have earned a higher share on the road in the Championship this term.
Blackburn Rovers have underperformed their expected goals more than any other side in the Championship this season (-12.1), netting just 36 goals from an xG of 48.1
Image source, Getty Images
