2026/27 SEASON: The Rams Championship Fixtures In Focus!

Derby County’s fixture list for the upcoming 2026/27 Sky Bet Championship season was confirmed on Thursday afternoon.

A meeting with Charlton Athletic at the Valley Stadium in London will begin the league season for John Eustace’s side on Saturday 15th August 2026, while the campaign will close out on home turf against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday 1st May 2027.

Another action-packed season will take place between those two fixtures, with the Rams set for their third consecutive Sky Bet Championship campaign, following last season's eighth-place finish.

Eustace’s charges secured 20 wins and nine draws, resulting in the club’s highest finish in seven years and will be looking to better that achievement heading into the new campaign.

As part of changes to the league being introduced for the 2026/27 season, finishing in eighth spot would now be enough to guarantee a play-off position – with six teams set to be involved in the end-of-season promotion knockout competition for the first time.

Here, dcfc.co.uk takes a look at the main takeaways for Rams fans from fixture release day.

New Opponents

There will be six fresh opponents who have joined the league for 2026/27, three through promotion from Sky Bet League One and three via relegation from the Premier League.

Lincoln City were League One champions in 2025/26, as Michael Skubala’s men bagged 103 points, earning an emphatic title win that sees the club return to the second tier of English football for the first time since 1961.

Skubala’s success saw him poached by Bristol City in the summer, and the Imps installed the management duo of Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw to the top job for the historic season.

Derby last played Lincoln in their League One promotion-winning campaign, drawing 0-0 at the Sincil Bank Stadium in January 2024. The Rams will clash with Lincoln at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday 19th December 2026 with the away fixture set for Saturday 3rd April 2027.

Cardiff City secured automatic promotion from League One last season, finishing second under the guidance of Head Coach Brian Barry-Murphy, returning to the second tier at the first time of asking following relegation in 2024/25.

Derby will play their first home game of the season against Cardiff on Saturday 22nd August 2026, while the away clash will entail a midweek trip to South Wales on Tuesday 2nd March 2027.

Ascending through the play-offs, a 4-1 Wembley win against Stockport County in May restored Bolton’s second-tier status after 10 seasons away from the Championship, including one campaign in League Two.

Steven Schumacher was the man to grasp promotion for the Greater Manchester outfit after knocking on the door in previous seasons. Schumacher had previously gotten Plymouth Argyle out of League One in the 2022/23 season.

Derby’s previous meeting with Bolton came during the 2023/24 League One season. The clash between the two promotion-chasing sides at Pride Park Stadium proved crucial, as Kane Wilson’s 78th-minute goal in March 2024 split the sides who finished second and third in the division.

Burnley made a straight return back to the Championship from the Premier League after Scott Parker led them to 100 points and automatic promotion in 2024/25.

The Clarets last faced Derby when the sides met at Turf Moor in Carabao Cup Round Two in August 2025, Burnley coming out 2-1 winners.

Derby will travel to Lancashire to face Burnley on Saturday 19th September, before battling at Pride Park on Saturday 20th February.

West Ham United were last at Championship level in 2011/12, when they rose up through the Play-off Final, securing a 2-1 win over Blackpool, with Carlton Cole and Ricardo Vaz Tê on the scoresheet.

In the following 14 seasons, West Ham played UEFA Europa League football on four occasions and once played UEFA Conference League football in 2022/23, crowned as champions with a win over Fiorentina.

But a faltering season last time out saw the Hammers return to the second tier, finishing 18th place. Nuno Espirito Santo is the man charged with returning the London club back to the bigtime.

Derby will travel to the London Stadium for the very first time when they play West Ham

Wolverhampton Wanderers brought eight seasons in the top flight of English football to a close in 2025/26, relegated in 20th place with just three wins and 11 draws in the Premier League.

Over their time at the top, Wolves experienced UEFA Europa League football in 2019/20, reaching the quarter-final stage and achieving their second consecutive seventh-place finish under the management of Espirito Santo, who had got the Midlands club promoted from the Championship in 2017/18.

After Rob Edwards was in charge last season, Wolves opted for a change bringing in Cesar Peixoto, a Portuguese top flight manger, who was most recently in charge of Gil Vicente.

Derby last faced Wolves in their promotion season, with the eventual league champions coming out 2-0 winners at both Pride Park and Molineux in 2017/18.

The Rams will face Wolves first on the road under the floodlights on Tuesday 24th November 2026, and will conclude the 2026/27 campaign with the home tie at Pride Park on Saturday 1st May 2027.

Midweek Matchdays

The Rams will be in league action on 14 weekdays across the league calendar. The first and last midweek outings will come against Portsmouth. John Eustace’s men will travel to Fratton Park on Tuesday 1st September 2026 and shall play host to Pompey in their penultimate home game on Tuesday 20th April 2027.

The festive fixture calendar accounts for two of these matches, with a Tuesday 29th December 2026 home tie with Sheffield United and a Pride Park New Year’s clash with Blackburn Rovers falling on Friday 1st January 2027.