Burnley and West Ham to meet on first Championship weekend

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Nuno Espirito Santo will look to lead West Ham to promotion to the Premier League in their first season in the EFL since 2011-12 By Ian Woodcock BBC Sport England Published 4 minutes ago Relegated Burnley and West Ham will meet on the opening weekend of the Championship season on Sunday, 16 August. The Clarets, whose bid to appoint Wales manager Craig Bellamy as boss looks to have fallen through, finished 19th in the top flight last season and will host the the Hammers, who went down on the final day. Fellow relegated side Wolves will play the league's curtain-raiser against Blackburn at Molineux on Friday, 14 August. Elsewhere, Southampton, who will start the season on minus four points after the Spygate scandal, travel to Watford on the opening weekend and promoted Cardiff welcome Welsh rivals Wrexham on Monday, 17 August. League One champions Lincoln start the season at beaten play-off finalists Middlesbrough on Saturday, 15 August and third tier play-off final winners Bolton begin the campaign with a home game against Preston on the same day. The Championship season starts a week after clubs play their first competitive fixture in the first round of the Carabao Cup and one week before the Premier League gets under way. Championship first round fixtures in full Friday, 14 August Wolverhampton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers (20:00) Saturday 15 August Bolton Wanderers v Preston North End (12:30) Bristol City v Millwall (15:00) Charlton Athletic v Derby County (15:00) Middlesbrough v Lincoln City (15:00) Norwich City v West Bromwich Albion (15:00) Portsmouth v Queens Park Rangers (15:00) Sheffield United v Birmingham City (15:00) Stoke City v Swansea City (15:00) Sunday, 16 August Watford v Southampton (13:30) Burnley v West Ham United (16:00) Monday, 17 August Cardiff City v Wrexham (20:00) All times BST Can relegated Premier League sides bounce back? Burnley, West Ham and Wolves will all be looking to secure Premier League promotions at the first time of asking. The Clarets have now been relegated from or promoted to the top flight in each of the past four seasons. However, now less than two months out from the start of the season they remain without a manager following the departure of Scott Parker in May. West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has remained despite them dropping out of the top flight after 14 seasons. The Portuguese led Wolves to the Championship title in his one previous season managing at this level in 2017-18. Wolves finished bottom of the Premier League in 2025-26 and sacked boss Rob Edwards earlier this month to bring in Cesar Peixoto. They have bolstered their squad with former England defender Kieran Trippier and returning Mexico striker Raul Jimenez. However, all three will be aware that in both of the past two seasons a team relegated from the top tier has suffered a second successive demotion to League One. Former Premier League champions Leicester City went the same way as Luton To