We might have to wait a little while longer for these, but it’s not just the London and West Midlands football scenes which will be livelier this season.
Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League and Bolton’s promotion to the Championship from League One mean there are a hotpot of Lancashire derbies to look forward to this season, with Blackburn and Preston also in the second tier.
You could throw a 20-mile wide cap over all four teams, who made up a third of the original 12 members of the Football League.
The East Lancashire rivalry between Blackburn and Burnley will resume in late November after a year off, with the return game in early February.
Burnley and Bolton were two divisions apart last season but will meet for the first time in nearly 11 years on Boxing Day, with the Trotters having won just one of the past seven meetings in all competitions, losing five of them, having been unbeaten in the rivalry across nine games over 22 years prior to that.
Wanderers will also welcome Blackburn down the road on 5 December – the same weekend Burnley host Preston.
Bolton are top of the Lancashire table so far this season, after a 2-1 win at home to Preston on the opening day. They make the return trip to Deepdale in March, the first of their three away Lancashire derbies in the space of 14 days, during which Preston also entertain Burnley.
While Wrexham have gatecrashed the party in the past 12 months, there is really only one game that sets the pulses racing in Wales.
The south Wales derby is back, following Cardiff’s promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt last season.
The Bluebirds head to Swansea at the end of November before the return fixture in the capital in mid-March.
One of the fiercest rivalries in the game was born in Swansea’s first competitive fixture in 1912.
Cardiff won the last encounter 3-0 in January 2025, a rare bright spot on the path to relegation, with Swansea’s last win coming in March 2024 – though the Swans did the double-double for the first time in the rivalry’s history in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
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