Swansea City

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Swansea City will start the 2025-26 Championship season away to Middlesbrough on Saturday, 9 August.

It will be the second successive season which Swansea have opened up with a trip to Riverside, with last year's long trip north ending in a 1-0 defeat.

The first home league match for Alan Sheehan's side in 2025-26 will take place on Saturday, 16 August against Sheffield United, who missed out on promotion in the play-offs last season.

The Swans will host Welsh rivals Wrexham on Saturday, 20 December in what will be the first league match between the two clubs in 22 years, while the return fixture in north Wales will take place on Saturday, 14 March, 2026.

Swansea fans will be on the road over the Christmas period with a trip to Coventry City on 26 December and then a game at Oxford United three days later.

The Swans will end the league campaign on Saturday, 2 May at home to Charlton Athletic, who are managed by Welshman Nathan Jones.

• Follow this link for Swansea City's full 2025-26 fixture list.

*Dates and kick-off times will be subject to change.

Your club will soon discover their schedule for the upcoming EFL season. As soon as Thursday, in fact.

Want to know who your side will face on opening day? The EFL fixtures will be announced at 12:00 BST - but that's not all.

The day will be rounded off by the first round of Carabao Cup being drawn at 16:30 BST.

So check back on 26 June to see who your team faces first, last and everything in between.

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Martin Paterson's spell at Swansea City did not last as long as he would have liked, but Michael Duff's former assistant has just landed his second managerial role since leaving Wales.

Paterson, 38, moved to Wales to work alongside Duff in the summer of 2023 having previously been on his staff at Barnsley.

But the ex-Northern Ireland striker left Swansea alongside Duff less than six months later.

He resurfaced later that season as boss at Burton Albion, helping them remain in League One, and has now agreed to take over at League Two Notts County.

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Swansea City goalkeeper Kit Margetson will spend the 2025-26 season on loan at Cymru Premier club Connah's Quay Nomads.

Margetson, who turns 19 next month, was on the fringes of Swansea's senior squad at the end of last season.

The Wales youth international signed his first professional deal at Swansea in the summer of 2024.

He is the son of Swansea and Wales goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson.

Andy Fisher and Nathan Broome are both due back at Swansea this summer after loan spells away, adding to the club's keeper options alongside first-choice Lawrence Vigouroux.

"I know that Kit turned down a number of other opportunities to come and play for ourselves and as club we are grateful for Swansea City, especially director of football Richard Montague and Martyn Margetson, for facilitating the move," said Nomads boss John Disney.

"Hopefully the club can utilise this to help form a close relationship moving forwards."

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Swansea City will host French top-flight side Lorient in their final dress rehearsal for the new Championship season.

Alan Sheehan's side will face last season's Ligue 2 champions at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday, 2 August (15:00 BST).

The Brittany-based club had been relegated in 2023-24, but return to Ligue 1 at the first time of asking.

Lorient's visit completes Swansea's pre-season programme.

The will also face League One Stevenage in Spain on 19 July and then travel to League Two side Cheltenham Town on Wednesday, 23 July.

They also visit another third-tier club, Exeter City, on July 26.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

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The latest summer of change at Swansea City continues after three player departures in a matter of days.

The first exit was not one Swansea wanted, with Harry Darling turning down the offer of a new contract in south Wales in favour of a three-year deal at Norwich City.

Swansea have lost one of their most consistent performers last season for nothing which, as director of football Richard Montague noted recently, is not ideal from the club's point of view.

Could Swansea have done more to keep Darling? Certainly, they appear to have tried everything possible this spring, with the former MK Dons defender eventually offered a lucrative contract.

Who knows, if that offer had been tabled a year ago, Darling might still be at Swansea and under contract for at least a couple more seasons.

But in the end, perhaps, Darling's head had been turned.

While Darling will line up for the Canaries next season, his replacement at Swansea is already in place in the shape of Cameron Burgess.

At 29, he arrives from Ipswich Town with little re-sale value, but looks a fine acquisition nevertheless.

This week's other departures have caused less of a stir.

After two seasons as a Swansea player – one of which was spent on loan at former club Hibernian - Mykola Kuharevich has left for Slovan Bratislava on a permanent deal.

Swansea say they have received a fee for Kuharevich, the size of which has not been disclosed.

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But it is safe to assume they have made a significant loss on a player who arrived from Troyes in 2023 in a deal believed to be worth close to £1m.

Kuharevich managed 10 Championship substitute appearances for Swansea, scoring one goal.

Nathan Tjoe-A-On, the other man who said farewell this week, had an even more limited impact, playing a grand total of two minutes of league football in a Swans shirt.

Swansea are understood to have paid about £300,000 for Tjoe-A-On who, like Kuharevich, goes down as one of various failed signings made in the summer of 2023.

The truth is that Tjoe-A-On's exit may not have a huge impact on Alan Sheehan's plans for 2025-26 given that he was already a fringe figure.

Kuharevich's move looks more significant given that it clears a space in the attacking department within Sheehan's squad - and probably cuts a larger slice off the club's wage bill.

The next big question is whether Jerry Yates, another forward who was out on loan last season, will follow Kuharevich through the exit door or come back into the fold.

For now, the noises are that Yates is more likely to go than stay.

Should Yates leave once more, Swansea will very definitely have a vacancy in the striker department – and more finances to work with as they look to fill it.

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With no south Wales derby to look forward to after Cardiff City's relegation to League One, Swansea fans can instead look forward to a potential encounter between the clubs' under-21s sides.

Swansea and Bluebirds' junior teams have won wildcard entries to Welsh domestic football's 2025-26 Nathaniel MG Cup for a third successive season.

The Cymru Premier's dominant force, The New Saints, are reigning holders of the Welsh League Cup.

Swansea's youngsters went out in the first round last July, losing 5-3 in a penalty shootout at Baglan Dragons.

The draw for the 2025-26 first round takes places on Wednesday, 25 June and Swansea will be hoping to go significantly further this time around.

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Darren O'Dea says Brendan Rodgers played a pivotal role in his decision to leave Celtic to become assistant head coach at Swansea City.

Former Republic of Ireland international O'Dea held the role of player pathway manager with ex-Swans boss Rodgers' side but has now linked up with compatriot Alan Sheehan at the Swansea.com Stadium.

"This club is similar to Celtic in that it has a real identity, it is not just enough to come in here and just win, there needs to be more. There needs to be a product on the pitch that the fans relate to," said O'Dea.

"Speaking to Brendan, who has been brilliant in all this, he talked about the fanbase having a big understanding of their football.

"He could not have spoken more highly of the club and the city, and the DNA of the club.

"That is a real big driver in me wanting to come here, it's really important to me."

Following Luke Williams' exit in February, Swansea collected 24 points from 13 matches at a rate of 1.85 points per game under Sheehan last season, the joint-third highest points tally in the Championship over that period.

And O'Dea says he regularly watched Swansea last term as part of his role with Celtic.

"The guys here did a fantastic job over the final part of last season, I watched a number of games last season while I was at Celtic as it was part of my responsibilities to be monitoring and watching football across Europe," he added.

"I am well versed in what the team looks like, and the players, I am looking forward to getting to know them."

Ben Ashton
BBC Sport England

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Watford are getting relegated, Plymouth are staying up, Millwall are in the play-offs and Portsmouth are also battling for a top-six spot.

Does something sound a bit off? Well, that's what would have happened if the Championship season started on 1 January.

Here's a look at the 2025 calendar year table, showing who the form sides were in the second half of the season and who went into freefall.

Perhaps the most notable difference between the actual final top six and the 2025 version is that Millwall would be in the play-offs and Premier League-bound Sunderland would not.

Burnley and Leeds still comfortably occupy the automatic promotion spots, albeit the Clarets would be unbeaten at the top of the pile with the Whites in second.

Coventry improved significantly after Frank Lampard replaced Mark Robins and are third over the course of the year.

The Sky Blues would instead be pitted against Bristol City in the play-off semi-final as opposed to Sunderland. Who knows what difference that would have made to their promotion bid...

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Portsmouth - who spent much of the season battling relegation and only secured their Championship safety with two games to spare - are seventh and just one point outside a play-off spot.

Pompey sit above Sunderland, who lost their final five games of the season and are down in eighth.

The data perhaps shows just how long Regis Le Bris' side effectively had a play-off spot sewn up before their victory at Wembley against Sheffield United to claim promotion.

Relegation battlers Oxford find themselves seven places higher than where they actually finished in the 2024-25 campaign (17th), reflecting the good work done by Gary Rowett after he took over as boss from Des Buckingham.

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Plymouth would have survived comfortably had the season begun in January 2025, showing a significant uptick after Miron Muslic replaced Wayne Rooney at the helm.

Middlesbrough tailed off significantly in the second half of the season, underpinning why they missed out on the play-offs. It was a drop off that ultimately cost Michael Carrick his job as head coach.

Norwich City conceded more goals (32) than any other side in 2025, which counteracted the hard work they'd done at the other end, having been the fourth top scorers (31) since the turn of the year.

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Watford had a disappointing 2025, winning just five of their 23 games and losing 13 to finish bottom of the calendar year table.

The Hornets had the joint-worst goal difference along with Cardiff (-10) and head coach Tom Cleverley was sacked following the end of the season.

Preston and Cardiff won the fewest games of any side in 2025 (4), which cost the Bluebirds their Championship status and almost led to the Lilywhites dropping into League One as they avoided relegation by one point.

Paul Heckingbottom's side would be down if only games this year were counted.

Luton and Derby scored the fewest goals in 2025 (19) and attacking output was an issue that plagued both sides throughout the entire campaign.

It had major consequences for the Hatters with back-to-back relegations, while the Rams survived by a point - and only on goal difference in the yearly table.

Data collated from Transfermarkt

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Ryan Davies is returning to Swansea City this summer after being appointed academy manager.

Davies held several roles within the academy set-up between 2012 and 2024, including head of coaching and interim academy manager.

During that time he also played a part in the development of players such as current men's first-team captain Ben Cabango, Ollie Cooper, Liam Cullen, Connor Roberts and Josh Sheehan.

He will formally take up the role on 1 August.

"I am delighted and extremely proud to be given the opportunity to return to the club and lead Swansea City's academy," said Davies.

"Being able to represent my hometown club and local community is a huge privilege, and witnessing the growth of the academy over the last decade and more has been incredible.

"As a club we have a proud track record of producing talented young players capable of featuring at senior club and international levels, and that is one we are very keen to continue.

"I cannot wait to get started and try and continue to drive our academy, and ensure our supporters continue to be able to chant 'he's one of our own' by producing talent that can thrive at first-team level."

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Director of football Richard Montague says Swansea City will attempt to avoid another Harry Darling situation in the future by ensuring the club's key players do not run down their contracts.

Centre-back Darling is attracting interest from a host of Championship clubs this summer, partly because he is available on a free transfer.

Swansea tried to persuade Darling to sign a new deal – and their offer remains on the table – but former boss Luke Williams suggested the club should have made an earlier attempt to tie the former MK Dons player down.

Darling is not the first Swansea player in recent seasons to see his contract come to an end – and Montague accepts the club must look to avoid similar scenarios in the future.

"We want to keep our best players and we don't want to get in the situation where those players can do what Harry has been able to do, which is brilliant for Harry but less good for us as a club," he said.

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"We want to avoid that as much as possible. That is going to be a key focus going forward, either deciding on when is the right time to cash in on an asset and when is the right time to extend someone's contract, either to grow with us or become an even stronger asset for us.

"I can understand why situations develop but we have to do our best to try to avoid them."

Josh Tymon and Josh Key were two of Swansea's star performers in 2024-25 and are among the club's most saleable assets.

The two full-backs see their current deals expire next summer, although there club have the option of extending both those contracts by a further 12 months.

When asked whether Tymon and Key's contract situations should be addressed sooner rather than later, Montague added: "We will absolutely be talking to those guys as the season begins, in pre-season as well, but we haven't had any conversations yet."