ITV confirm first free-to-air matches of new season including Wrexham opener and three huge derbies

ITV has confirmed the first of its free-to-air English Football League and League Cup matches this season.

As part of a partnership with Sky Sports for the 2025/26 season, the broadcaster will show a total of 20 football matches across the campaign.

This selection is made up of 10 EFL ties and 10 Cup ties.

And the first six games to be aired under the partnership have been revealed in a statement this morning.

ITV will kick off their coverage by showing the Round One League Cup clash between Birmingham and Sheffield United on August 13, with kick-off at 8pm.

This will be followed three days later by Wrexham’s first Championship game at the Racecourse Ground against West Brom.

The Saturday, 13 August game will kick off at 12:30pm.

Three major derbies will follow in each month leading up to December, all currently pencilled in for midday kick-offs.

The first will see Southampton taking on Portsmouth on September 14.

The second will see Ipswich host Norwich on October 5.

And the third will see Sheffield Wednesday clash with Sheffield United on November 23.

The final confirmed game so far in ITV’s selection pool will see Derby face Leicester – relegated from the Premier League last season – on December 6.

This broadcasting deal will run until the end of 2026/27 season, while ITV will still show extended highlights on ITV4 and ITVX.

While the Premier League season does not start until August 15, the rest of the English pyramid will already be in full swing by then.

The Championship season gets underway a week before, on August 8, with Birmingham taking on relegated Ipswich on Friday evening.

However, League One and League Two begin as early as this weekend.

The third tier kicks off the entire season of professional football in England tomorrow with Luton taking on Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, tier four will see all of its games played out at 3pm on Saturday, August 2.