Leicester City

Image source, Getty Images

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.

Leicester City suffered a "sucker punch" in their fight for Championship survival when they failed to beat already relegated crisis club Sheffield Wednesday, says former Foxes defender Michael Morrison.

Monday's 1-1 draw with the Owls left Leicester in the bottom three with five games remaining.

And with the Foxes managing only one win from 15 league games since early January, Morrison says they missed the chance to take control of their own destiny.

"They have probably got to win three games to get over the line, especially with [relegation rivals] Portsmouth having a game in hand," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"It was a real sucker punch not to go get that win [at Sheffield Wednesday]. As a football club you need to take advantage of these moments and that was certainly one that was missed .

"You could look back at the end of the season and say that was 'the point where it looked really dangerous and look where we got relegated'.

"It was such an opportunity to get out of that relegation zone, which then brings together that confidence and that bit of life in that fight."

You can listen to more interview and analysis on BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City interim boss Gary Rowett is hopeful midfielder Jordan James could return for Saturday's Championship match at home to Swansea City (15:00 BST).

The 21-year-old has missed the Foxes' past two games with an Achilles tendon injury he sustained while playing for Wales in their World Cup play-off defeat by Bosnia-Herzegovina last month.

"He's done some work this morning (Thursday) and we'll see how he feels after that. We're hopeful he might be available for the game; if he's not I'm pretty sure 100% he'll be available for the next one," Rowett told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We want to give him the best chance possible and we'll probably make a decision on that tomorrow (Friday)."

Leicester have drawn both their games in James' absence and Rowett is keen to get him back as soon as possible.

"His heel was really, really bruised and every time you put your foot down, decelerate or land, it creates not a nice feeling so what feels like a relatively innocuous injury just keeps rolling onto another day and until he feels fine there's no point us putting him out there or asking him to try," he added.

Leicester this week failed with their appeal against a deduction of six points for financial irregularities and the head coach is pleased any doubt is now at an end.

"The fact that nothing has changed gives great clarity to the group for the last five games, so I'm pleased it's done now rather than two or three games down the line where it might have a material impact on what happens," he said.

Leicester are currently 22nd in the Championship table, one point short of safety with five games remaining.

Leicester City will hope to break out of the bottom three as they host Swansea City on Saturday (15:00 BST).

The Foxes escaped a loss at Hillsborough on Monday with an 84th-minute equaliser from Jordan Ayew but their point still leaves them one behind 21st-placed Portsmouth.

Meanwhile Swansea have little to play for in mid-table but will be keen to end their four-match winless streak.

• Leicester have won eight of their last 10 league games against Swansea (D1 L1), winning each of the last three by the same 3-1 scoreline.

• Swansea are winless in their last 13 away league games against Leicester (D4 L9) since a 3-2 victory in October 1950.

• Since Gary Rowett's first game in charge of Leicester City on 21 February, the Foxes have drawn more games than any other Championship side (6). They've also had the second most shots in that time (136), behind only Middlesbrough (193).

• Swansea City have lost 12 away league games this season, also losing 12 in their last campaign. Only once in their previous 22 seasons have they lost more, with 13 defeats in the 2016-17 Premier League.

• Swansea's Zan Vipotnik has scored the most goals in the Championship this season, netting 20. The last Swans player with more in a league season was Joël Piroe in 2021-22 (22).

"Has the place become that poisonous and that toxic between the board, the management, the fans and the players, that nobody knows how to get their head above water?

"It just seems like such a strange circumstance to me and I can't work out how Leicester have fallen in 10 years from the team that won the Premier League to this."

The 72+ team are joined by Chelmsford City striker Lyle Taylor to reflect on a disappointing draw for relegation-threatened Leicester City against basement side Sheffield Wednesday and discuss the squad's mentality.

Listen to the latest episode of the 72+ podcast on BBC Sounds

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City manager Gary Rowett says he was pleased with how his side played in their 2-2 draw with Preston North End.

The Foxes needed a late Patson Daka equaliser to get a share of the spoils, although they created more than three times as many chances as their opponents.

"You have to look at the performance overall, and I would say for 99% of it the performance was outstanding. I really do think that," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We were excellent, we didn't give too many chances away, we score a very good goal and press nice and early and look really comfortable in the first half.

"But of course I've said it many times before, and it's been a bit of an Achilles heel where we can be playing fantastically well and we just give two goals out of nothing.

"The first one's a throw-in that breaks down and we let them break on us.

"Then the second one's a set-piece where we give the ball away in the run-up to it and then it's a soft goal to concede.

"I know Preston will say they made two mistakes for our goals, but when you've had 28 shots and the keeper's made countless saves, you would always feel as though you should have won the game."

Image source, Getty Images

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.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

Image source, Getty Images

Leicester City have not definitely ruled out midfielder Jordan James for Friday's Championship match at home to Preston North End (15:00 BST).

The 21-year-old was forced off in the second-half of Wales' World Cup play-off defeat by Bosnia-Herzegovina last Thursday with an Achilles injury and subsequently missed Tuesday's friendly against Northern Ireland.

"He's come back for treatment after landing a bit awkwardly," said Leicester boss Rowett.

"It wasn't anywhere near what one or two people thought at the time in terms of it being a bit more sinister. He's recovering well and getting treatment.

"He hasn't trained today [Wednesday] but some of the international lads either haven't trained or aren't back yet."

Leicester are one point adrift of safety in the Championship relegation zone with seven games remaining and Rowett is keen to have James available for the run-in especially with two matches to come over the Easter period.

"Tomorrow morning [Thursday] we'll have a discussion to see if he's available," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"If you speak to JJ he's adamant he'll be fit, like most players do which is a great sign but we'll try to find the balance between the two games making sure if he's fine for the first one he'll be fine for the second one.

"At least it's a positive conversation and I'm not sitting here saying he's definitely going to be unavailable for the two games."

Fresh from scoring for Ghana during the international break, Leicester will hope Abdul Fatawu and Jordan Ayew can transfer that form into goals for their club as they continue to battle to avoid a second successive relegation.

Four defeats from their past five games means Preston's play-off challenge has dissolved and they start Good Friday's match (15:00 BST) 11 points short of the top six.

• Leicester have won their past two home league games against Preston, having lost four in a row against them beforehand. They last won three consecutively between 1937 and 1950.

• Following their 2-1 win in August, Preston are looking to complete the league double over Leicester for the first time since 1957-58.

• Leicester have won just one of their past 13 league games (D5 L7), beating Bristol City 2-0 at home last month.

• Following a 3-1 win against Stoke last time out, Preston are looking to win consecutive league games for the first time since January (vs Sheffield Wednesday and Bristol City).

• Only Sheffield Wednesday (3) have kept fewer clean sheets than Leicester (5) in the Championship this season. However, two of the Foxes' five have come in their past three games.

Image source, Shutterstock

Leicester City forward Abdul Fatawu scored his second senior international goal as Ghana were beaten 2-1 by Germany in their friendly in Stuttgart on Monday night.

The 22-year-old equalised for the Black Stars in the 70th minute only for Germany to win the game with a goal from Deniz Undav two minutes from the end.

The defeat for Ghana follows a 5-1 thrashing in Austria on Friday in which Fatawu's Leicester teammate Jordan Ayew scored their consolation goal.

Both players will expect to be involved when Leicester return to Championship action on Friday at home to Preston (15:00 BST).

Owynn Palmer-Atkin
BBC Radio Leicester reporter

Image source, Getty Images

There is clearly going to be concern, from any business, when it makes a pre-tax operating loss of over £71m.

Leicester City fans are also within their rights to feel concern around a football club that earlier this season received their first ever points deduction.

However, I think it's fair to point in the direction of significant investment from the owners as the main reason behind these losses - in a failed attempt to re-establish themselves in the Premier League.

While the club clearly has some way to go to become more self-sufficient, supporters could take a form of relief from the fact that Leicester believe they have sufficiently fallen in line with the financial rules (PRS) in the Premier League for 2024-25, falling under the £35m allowable loss due to the add-backs.

There are some positive trends in among all the numbers within the murky world of football finance. One of those is the reduction in staff costs. Down from over 100% of total revenue the previous year to around 82% in this year.

The overriding feeling though should be that it's clear the club appear to be moving in the right direction financially, but there is a fair way to go both on and off the pitch to take Leicester City back to where they feel they belong.