It's just over five weeks to go until League One and League Two start - and six weeks until the Championship kicks off - the EFL today announced fixtures for all 72 clubs, including television fixtures for the first week.
Read on to find out what the opening weekend looks like in each league, the latest betting odds for each league from bet365, and information on which teams punters' are currently placing their bets on - which last season proved telling.
The Championship - arguably the best league in the world, given it's competitiveness - kicks off on the 8th August, and all games over the weekend are due to be shown live on Sky Sports.
Birmingham vs Ipswich Town sees two of the title favourites clash immediately. Despite the two clubs having diametrically opposed seasons last year, both will believe they can start the campaign off, and the Friday 8pm kick off will get a huge audience as Championship football returns.
There are three early Saturday kickoffs, all at 12.30pm, and the eye catcher is Southampton vs Wrexham. The only celebrations for the Saints last season was when they narrowly avoided "beating" Derby's record low points total. Wrexham have enjoyed back to back to back promotions since their purchase by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and the Championship represents a challenging step up.
The late Saturday kick off at 5.30pm sees an immediate rematch Sheffield United vs Bristol City - the Blades ran riot in the playoff semi finals, and Bristol City will be keen for revenge.
Finally, the last of the week 1 fixtures is Leicester City vs Sheffield Wednesday. Usually a club like Leicester would be expected to bounce straight back. Unfortunately, worrying news about their owners' financial position continues to emerge, giving The Owls hope of a strong start to the season where they will be targeting an improvement on last season's 12th place finish.
With League One kicking off the week before the Championship, and with all games also on Sky Sports, it's sure to get a lot of casual interest from Premier League fans waiting for their team to return.
Luton Town were unexpectedly relegated from the Championship last season, and they kick off the EFL fixtures for the 2025/2026 season. Hosting newly promoted Wimbledon should give the Hatters an opportunity to continue the good form they finished last season in.
There are nine 3pm fixtures on Saturday 2nd August, preceded by Cardiff City vs Peterborough. The Welsh team ended the 2024/2025 season in terrible form, not winning in their last eight, and saw themselves relegated without putting up much a fight. Fans are excited by rumours of a Gareth Bale led buyout from current owner Vincent Tan, and last season's 18th place finishers Peterborough will give a good idea of where the potential title challenges are in terms of performance.
There is also a single Sunday fixture; Stockport vs Bolton providing a tasty local rivalry in the lunchtime slot. The two teams both performed well last season; Bolton just missed out on the playoffs, while Stockport cruelly lost on penalties to Leyton Orient in the semi finals. This one has the potential for fireworks.
All the League Two fixtures take place on Saturday 2nd August at 3pm, and will be live on Sky Sports+.
League favourites MK Dons open against newly promoted Oldham Athletic, and punters will be hopeful that the Dons new summer signings have settled in to make the expected difference immediately.
Salford were bought by a new ownership group last month, still including Gary Neville and David Beckham. Part of this was a promise "to invest significantly in the Club, the team and the facilities", so their opening day match vs Crewe Alexandra will be an early opportunity to see if this promise is being kept.
National League winners Barnet have a home game for their long awaited return to the Football League pyramid. Visiting Fleetwood finished solidly middle of the table last season, with a satisfying +/- 0 goal difference, and will provide a swift reminder to the Bees about what they've been missing.
While we are still waiting for more TV announcements, we've picked out three big games to watch out for later in the season:
27th September - Coventry vs Birmingham
There aren't as many big derbies in the Championship as there used to be so this one will be a massive one. The two teams last played in April 2024, with a 3-0 win not eventually proving enough to keep Birmingham up.
Coming this early in the season this will be not only a derby but a massive spotlight on Birmingham's ability to compete at the top of the table. On the other hand, Coventry will see an opportunity to prove their supremacy, having made the playoffs last season.
26th December - Wrexham vs Sheffield United
All English football fans love the Boxing Day madness the fixture list usually provides. This year though it looks likely there will only be a maximum of 4 Premier League fixtures on the 26th itself, so there could be more attention on the Championship than usual.
Both of these teams have promotion ambitions and passionate fan bases, and there's real potential for a Boxing Day treat here.
1st January - Southampton vs Millwall
With the Saints up there in the betting, Millwall will be hoping to improve on their 8th place from last season.
They improved steadily as the season progressed, having started off poorly, before finishing the season with six wins from their last 9 matches. This could be a match where Southampton need to prove their title credentials.
The latest Championship winner odds from bet365 are:
No surprise to see the top two in the betting dominated by two relegated teams; the other, Leicester, are battling off field issues and so currently sit at 12/1 for the title.
More of a surprise is newly promoted Birmingham holding fourth favourite status at 9/1. They spent a League One record amount of money last summer, and the bookies are clearly expecting this to pay dividends in the Championship too.
The latest League One winner odds from bet365 are:
Three of the top four in the market are the relegated teams, with Luton's excellent run at the end of last season seeing them made favourites. Cardiff City are arguably surprisingly short, given their torrid run in the last eight games, but they only finished five points off safety and there is often a gulf in quality between the second and third tiers.
Of the teams who were in the league last season, none of the losing playoff clubs find themselves in the top five in the betting, with the highest Stockport at 12/1 in as six favourites. Huddersfield ended their last campaign with five losses in a row but have been busy in the transfer window already signing Marcus Harness, Murray Wallace and Ryan Ledson on free transfers.
The latest League Two winner odds from bet365 are:
It's telling on the quality of League One last year and the competitiveness of League Two that the shortest relegated team is Bristol Rovers at 14/1 (sixth favourites).
MK Dons have already been extremely busy this transfer window, The market has reacted positively to the acquisitions of Nathaniel Mandez-Laing, Gethin Jones, Aaron Collins & Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, who were all playing at a higher level last season.
Chesterfield finished 7th last season but finished the season well and the permanent return of previous loanee Dilan Markandy is a positive given his influence on the team in the first half of last season.
All odds correct at time of writing and subject to change. Check bet365 for latest odds and terms.
Last season, the best backed teams for both the Championship and League One - Leeds and Birmingham respectively - won their leagues, and bet365 are on hand to provide the top three teams in each league so far this off season.
The list is in order of percentage of money staked on each market.
Championship
League One
League Two
bet365's Steve Freeth provided some context:
“Although Liam Delap has left Portman Road, Kieran McKenna remains in the hot seat with 34.3% of the money placed in the Championship being on the Tractor Boys making hay this coming campaign.
The Luton roller-coaster finds itself back in League One but the money is telling us that they could be on the up again with 42.5% of stakes being placed on the Hatters.
With Paul Warne in the dugout and some impressive early signings, MK Dons’ outright odds have tumbled from 8/1 into 4/1, fuelled by over 6,000 wagers so far, representing 53.4% of the total money wagered on the League Two outright market so far.
The acquisitions of Gethin Jones and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing would be strong signings on their own, but the capture of Aaron Collins has really caught the eye of both punters and bookmakers.”
All data correct as of 5pm 25/06/2025. Full information here.
It's just over five weeks to go until League One and League Two start - and six weeks until the Championship kicks off - the EFL today announced fixtures for all 72 clubs, includin...
