Queens Park Rangers

The EFL fixture list is out and we know you are bursting to know what you've got to look forward to - or dread - from your team this upcoming season.

Here are some key dates to put in your diary:

• 15 August - v Portsmouth (A)

• 22 August - v Bolton Wanderers (H)

• 26 December 2026 - v Bristol City (H)

• 1 January 2027 - v Watford (A)

• 1 May 2027 - v Norwich City (H)

See QPR's full fixture list here.

The EFL will reveal its fixture list for the 2026-27 season on Thursday.

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

The draws for the group stage of the Vertu Trophy and the first round of the Carabao Cup will also take place.

So check back on 25 June to see who your team faces first, last and everything in between.

Portsmouth, Preston North End and QPR have all been linked with a move for Swansea City's 26-year-old English right-back Josh Key. (Football League World), external

For more transfer news and rumours, read Friday's full gossip column here.

Derby County and QPR are battling to sign 31-year-old former Coventry City midfielder Jamie Allen on a free transfer, with the Englishman now available after he was released by the Sky Blues upon the expiry of his contract this summer. (Football League World), external

For more transfer news and rumours, read Thursday's full gossip column here.

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Bristol City are poised to appoint former Notts County and Forest Green boss Ian Burchnall as Michael Skubala's assistant manager.

The Robins are also trying to bring QPR first-team coach Steve Bould to Ashton Gate as Skubala looks to finalise his backroom team.

Boss Skubala joined the Robins last month after leaving Lincoln, having guided the Imps to the League One title as they returned to the second tier for the first time in 65 years.

Lincoln assistants Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw were made joined head coaches and did not follow him to Ashton Gate.

Burchnall was close to being appointed Rotherham manager last month, having worked under the Millers' new head of football Steve McClaren with the Jamaica national side last year.

He was most recently first-team coach at Aberdeen under interim boss Peter Leven last season.

Burchnall was also assistant manager at Belgian side Anderlecht before a spell at Wolves under Gary O'Neil.

He has managed Notts County and Forest Green and he has also taken charge of Viking and Ostersund - where he succeeded Graham Potter - in Scandinavia.

Former Arsenal defender Bould, who also spent seven years coaching at the Gunners under Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery, has been with QPR for a year.

Image source, Shutterstock

QPR have confirmed that Julien Stephan's number two Alou Diarra has left the club to 'explore his own head coach opportunities'.

The former France midfielder and captain joined Rangers following Stephan's appointment as head coach a year ago.

"I thank Alou for the year that we've spent together," said QPR chief executive Christian Nourry. "I wish him the very best in his search for a new challenge."

Diarra, whose playing career included spells with Liverpool, West Ham and Charlton, was previously a coach at Lens and Troyes before linking up with Stephan in west London.

Image source, Getty Images

QPR head coach Julien Stephan believes the foundations are in place for his side to improve next season.

They were powerless to stop Ipswich Town's route to automatic promotion on the final day as the Hoops ended the campaign in 15th on the back of four straight losses.

But for Frenchman Stephan, in his first season in charge in west London, it has been a very useful learning experience.

"It was a season with a lot of ups and downs, I think like many, many teams in this league, but the main thing is I don't know which is the level of this group," he said.

"So it was a strong experience and it's really important now to think about the future.

"It's a good project, good fans, good management, good mentality into the dressing room, so we have some good foundations.

"I said to the players before the game it will probably be a wild 15-20 minutes on the pitch and they started as expected, very strongly, but we didn't find a way to respond in terms of intensity and they killed us in the first 15 minutes.

"After we found a way to respond it was better in the second half, but we didn't find a way to score."

Ipswich Town's draw at Southampton on Tuesday night has taken the race to secure the Championship's second automatic promotion place to the final day of the season.

A win for Ipswich over QPR (12:30 BST) would earn them an immediate return to the Premier League, anything less could open the door for Millwall or Middlesbrough.

• After winning the reverse meeting 4-1 in November, Ipswich could complete the league double over QPR for the first time since 2009-10.

• QPR have kept a clean sheet in each of their past three league visits to Ipswich (W1 D2), as many as their previous 12 beforehand.

• Excluding the curtailed 2019-20 season, Ipswich are unbeaten in their final league game of their past six seasons outside of the Premier League (W4 D2) since a 3-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest in 2016-17.

• QPR have won their final league game in four of the past five seasons (L1), including their past two in a row; the Hoops last ended the season with a league win 3+ years running from 1991-92 to 1994-95 (4 in a row).

• Ipswich Town have lost just one of their past 43 home Championship matches (W28 D14), a 3-0 defeat to Charlton in October this season.

QPR boss Julien Stephan spoke to BBC Radio London after his side's 3-2 defeat to Derby County:

"It's a lot of frustration, a game like this. I think we played an amazing 60 minutes – normally a game like this it's bringing three or four goals after 60 minutes.

"We took our chances but probably not enough, so it stayed alive.

"We know exactly what team they are, a physical team able to score on set pieces.

"I think we played very well, good football, dynamic football, strong ambition to create danger [and] score some goals."

Image source, Opta

Derby will seek to keep up their fight for a Championship play-off place when they visit QPR on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The Rams are eighth, two places and four points behind sixth-placed Wrexham after Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat at Norwich.

It was a third straight away defeat for John Eustace's side and a sixth in seven games on the road.

QPR are adrift in mid-table, sat 13th, after a 2-1 home defeat to Swansea the same night.

The Hoops are winless in four and though a top-10 place remains within their grasp with two games remaining, Julien Stephan's men could fall as low as 17th if results elsewhere go against them

• QPR have won both of their past two home league games against Derby County, only once before winning three in a row (from March 1981 to September 1982).

• After their 1-0 win in October, Derby are looking for their first league double over QPR since the 2016-17 season.

• Queens Park Rangers have lost their final home league game in three of the past four seasons (W1), more than their previous 10 beforehand (W7 D1 L2).

• Derby have won their final away league game in both of the past two seasons, only once before doing so more times in a row in the club's history – a run of four from 1891-92 to 1894-95.

• Derby have lost six of their past seven away league games (W1); no side has lost more times on the road in the Championship since the start of this period (21 February).

Image source, Opta

Neither can go up, neither can go down, but there's more than pride at stake as QPR host Swansea on Tuesday night (19:45 BST).

Just one point separates seven teams in the middle of the Championship pack and a victory for the Hoops would end a three-match winless streak and could take Julien Stephan's side into the top-10.

Swansea are four places below Rangers, but just a point back, and could also jump into the top-10 with a victory, depending on results elsewhere.

• Following their 1-0 win in October, QPR are looking to complete the league double over Swansea for the first time since 1979-80.

• Swansea are unbeaten in their past six away league games against QPR (W3 D3), winning this fixture 2-1 last season.

• QPR are unbeaten in their past three home league games (W2 D1), though have failed to score in three of their previous five on home soil, as many times as in their prior 24 matches.

• Swansea, who won 1-0 at Leicester in their last away league game, are looking to win successive league matches on their travels for the first time since April last season, beating Sunderland and QPR on that occasion.

• Swansea's Zan Vipotnik has scored in each of his past two away league games; he's yet to score in three successive away league matches for the Swans.