Championship fixtures 2020-21: Wycombe Wanderers host Rotherham United in opener

Wycombe will host Rotherham in their first-ever match in the Championship on the opening weekend of the 2020-21 English Football League season.

The pair, both promoted from League One, will meet on 12 September – six weeks later than the season was due to start because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Relegated Bournemouth host Blackburn, while Watford welcome Middlesbrough and Norwich are away at Huddersfield.

Coventry, who were League One champions on points per game, visit Bristol City.

For both the Sky Blues and Rotherham it will mark their first competitive league matches in six months, after the 2019-20 EFL season was originally suspended on 13 March because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The third- and fourth-tier campaigns were eventually curtailed following a vote by clubs in June, although the play-offs were still able to go ahead as planned, with Wycombe beating Oxford at Wembley to win promotion.

There will have been fewer than 40 days between the end of the last Championship campaign and the start of the new one, after Fulham concluded the English domestic season with victory over Brentford in the second-tier play-off final on 4 August.

Matches at the start of the 2020-21 season, which officially begins on 5 September with ties in the Carabao Cup first round, are to remain behind closed doors because of the ongoing impact of the pandemic.Opening fixtures

All matches currently scheduled for Saturday, 12 September at 15:00 BSTAFC Bournemouth v Blackburn Rovers Barnsley v Luton Town Birmingham City v Brentford Bristol City v Coventry City Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday Derby County v Reading Huddersfield Town v Norwich City Millwall v Stoke City Preston North End v Swansea City Queens Park Rangers v Nottingham Forest Watford v Middlesbrough Wycombe Wanderers v Rotherham United How will they cram everything in?

With every team in the EFL facing 46 league games – plus further possible matches in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Leasing.com Trophy and play-offs – the season promises to be more congested than ever.

In an attempt to combat fixture pile-ups further down the line, the first four rounds of the Carabao Cup are due to be completed within the opening month of the campaign, meaning there are no midweek games in the league until 20 October.

However, there are then 13 rounds of midweek fixtures scheduled to take place in the Championship – not including the Christmas and Easter periods – up from the eight initially planned in 2019-20.

It is a similar story in League One and League Two, where there will be 11 rounds of midweek games up from five – and that is before taking into account the impact of the winter weather.

Despite starting six weeks late, the season is still due to finish before the end of May, with the play-off finals taking place on the weekend of 29-31 May.

Source: BBC