Watford v Southampton - Championship opening weekend

The 2026/27 Sky Bet Championship season begins on Friday, with games taking place across the weekend up until Monday.

Wolves v Blackburn opens the season on Friday night.

All games are live on Sky Sports.

Sky Bet Championship opening weekend games - kick off 3pm Saturday unless stated

Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Preston North End

Bristol City 0-2 Millwall

Burnley v West Ham United (4pm, Sunday)

Cardiff City v Wrexham (8pm, Monday)

Charlton Athletic 2-1 Derby County

Middlesbrough 2-1 Lincoln City

Norwich City 1-2 West Bromwich Albion

Portsmouth 1-3 QPR

Sheffield United 0-0 Birmingham City

Stoke City 1-2 Swansea City

Watford 2-1 Southampton

Wolves 2-2 Blackburn Rovers

Of the home teams this weekend, only Middlesbrough's stadium has greater capacity than Cardiff City Stadium. An opportunity for CC fans to make a statement. CCS ranks 4th in stadium capacity in the Championship.

The season is officially underway.

Won't be surprised if Wolves win comfortably tonight. Blackburn are a team I see struggling, can see them going down.

Blackburn robbed, they were the better team. Ridiculous late penalty decision for Wolves, Blackburn player was outside the area. Impressed by them.

Shocking last minute penalty decision, that was outside the box. Blackburn got stitched up

Shocking last minute penalty decision, that was outside the box. Blackburn got stitched up

Body just outside but I would say hand inside or online? But the ref even though close to it couldn't possibly be 100% sure it was inside ...... he gave benefit to attacking side as they said if didn't give it no one would be complaining

Bolton v Preston the early game at 12.30 today

Bolton 2-0 up early on

Preston look awful rather than Bolton anything special

Bolton win 2-1

What do you guys think might be a good 3pm game to watch?

What do you guys think might be a good 3pm game to watch?

Norwich v West Brom would be my pick, two teams I think will do well this season.

Latest:

Middlesbrough 0-1 Lincoln

Portsmouth 1-0 QPR

Stoke 1-0 Swansea

Plumped for the Lincoln game first & will have a look at the one you suggest at the drinks break.

Plumped for the Lincoln game first & will have a look at the one you suggest at the drinks break.

Probably made the right decision, Norwich game is the only one that nothing has happened in yet.

Boro just scored 2-1 Boro

Lincoln 1st defeat in 31 games

Boro just scored 2-1 Boro

Less than a minute into added time after a good game from both sides. Lincoln played well from the start & certainly didn't look out of place in this league.

Wonder if Pembroke still hasn’t heard of Will Lankshear the Boro striker.

Sheffield United v Birmingham starts at 5.30pm.

3pm results:


Bristol City 0-2 Millwall

Charlton Athletic 2-1 Derby County

Middlesbrough 2-1 Lincoln City

Norwich City 1-2 West Bromwich Albion

Portsmouth 1-3 QPR

Stoke City 1-2 Swansea City

Have to say, despite many pundits and utube panels selecting Imps to fall back down this season, they were very unfortunate not to come away from the riverside with at least a point. They will be tough opposition esp with teams who struggle against a low block.. Boro looked ordinary apart from big will uptop.

Jacks done well to get a result away to stoke so credit where its due.

Millwall continue to impress and could be a dark horse... wurzell shitty well, shame eh

Cheating derby hope they go down, cant stand em.. but Valley is a tough place on opening day.

given last seasons form shock of day deffo at carrow rd...boing boing baggies with upset of day.

pompey look down already they were awfull, qpr will feel bouyant.

And lastly Trotters got the result needed but with the turn around of players at the tough shit stadium i see them struggling to stay up.


Brum away to Blades as i type, wont be surprised to see home win..



aside from that, U21s looked great last nite with Tanks and Perret looking 1st team ready.
Moreno is a busy lad for his age and Younger Issace Davies from forrest looks quality when he came on... Herbie James looks a bit of a unit too

Boro just scored 2-1 Boro

Less than a minute into added time after a good game from both sides. Lincoln played well from the start & certainly didn't look out of place in this league.

Lincoln played like they did in Division One, less than a third possession and hit on the break. Good to see it has already failed in the CHampionship.

Sheffield United 0-0 Birmingham City completes the opening Saturday of the season.

Not a good game, with three shots on target between the two of them.

From what I've seen possession seems to be order of the day! It's the teams with a cutting edge who are going to prosper judging by the missed chances I've seen several teams didn't win game because they lacked a finish.

I gave up watching the Sheff/Brum game because it was so boring & thought I was about to fall asleep.

aside from that, U21s looked great last nite with Tanks and Perret looking 1st team ready.
Moreno is a busy lad for his age and Younger Issace Davies from forrest looks quality when he came on... Herbie James looks a bit of a unit too

That's one helluva stretch to think that Perrett is first team ready. He played for my mate's team Yeovil last season and by all accounts did absolutely nothing. He said that Mafico, who was also on loan there was different class but Perrett was anonymous in every game he played for them.

Watford v Southampton is on now with Watford 1-0 up.

Burnley v West Ham at 4pm.

Watford win 2-1 against Southampton