Hull City’s first game of the Championship season at Coventry City will kick off at 12:30pm, after the clash was picked by Sky Sports for live coverage.
City begin their 2025/26 campaign at the CBS Stadium against Frank Lampard’s men, who were dramatically beaten in the play-off semi-final by Sunderland last season, with the Black Cats going on to cause an upset by coming from behind to beat Sheffield United in the final at Wembley late last month.
The Tigers were beaten 2-1 in the Midlands before Christmas in what was Ruben Selles’ first game in charge, before the two sides shared a 1-1 draw at the MKM Stadium in mid-April.
Their previous trip to Coventry was successful, though, when Liam Rosenior’s men won a five-goal thriller to boost their play-off hopes in late April 2024, and new head coach Sergej Jakirovic will hope for similar to get his tenure underway with a positive result.
The full Sky Sports schedule over the opening weekend looks like this
Friday, August 8
Birmingham City vs Ipswich Town – 8pm
Saturday, August 9
Southampton vs Wrexham – 12:30pm
Coventry City vs Hull City – 12:30pm
Charlton Athletic vs Watford – 12:30pm
Sheffield United vs Bristol City – 5:30pm
Sunday, August 10
Leicester City vs Sheffield Wednesday – 4:30pm
The EFL will again aim to give supporters as much notice as possible throughout the season about games being moved to accommodate television.
The notice periods for selections for the 2025/26 season are as follows:
- On the 2025/26 Fixture Release Day, selections shall be confirmed in respect of the opening weekends of the Championship and League One and League Two seasons.
- By 3 July 2025, selections shall be announced in respect of all live broadcast matches to be played before the end of September.
- By 31 July 2025, selections shall be announced in respect of all matches scheduled to be played prior to the end of the third round of the FA Cup (January 2026).
- By 7 November 2025, selections shall be announced in respect of all matches to be played between the end of the third round proper of the FA Cup and the last weekend of February.
This is up to five months’ notice provided to fans and Clubs, a significant increase on the previous deal, which had seen five weeks’ notice given across the majority of the season. By selecting TV picks early and giving much more notice, fans will be able to plan with certainty when making travel and hotel arrangements.
- Selections for matches scheduled after the first weekend in March will be announced on a four-week rolling basis starting from February 1 (e.g. a selection for the first weekend in April will be selected in the first weekend in March).
- Selections for matches scheduled for the penultimate weekend of the regular season will be announced three weeks in advance.
- Selections for matches scheduled for the final weekend of the regular season will be announced the week prior.
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