The 2025/26 season will be a huge test for John Eustace after making the shock decision to abandon ship at high flying Blackburn to return to Derby County and take the helm at the final club of his playing career.
Eustace’s decision proved to be a good decision as Blackburn fell away from the playoff positions and Derby County climbed out of the bottom three therefore surviving in their first season back at the second tier.
Let’s look at some of Derby County’s key 2025/26 fixtures.
Opening Day History For Derby County
The Rams opening game will be a ground fresh on the mind of Ram supporters as for the first time since 1893, County will be facing the same opponents in the opening game of the season as they ended the season prior.
This comes in the form of Stoke City who will be looking to improve on their performance in the EFL Championship last season.
Derby fans will be hoping for something to cheer about on the pitch this time round with a 0-0 draw last time round at Pride Park. This followed a 2-1 defeat earlier in the season.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 44
Draws: 42
Stoke Wins: 55
Last Five Results:
- Derby 0-0 Stoke (3/5/25)
- Stoke 2-1 Derby (2/11/24)
- Stoke 1-2 Derby (3/12/21)
- Derby 2-1 Stoke (18/9/21)
- Stoke 0-1 Derby (20/3/21)
The Three Promoted Sides From EFL League One
Birmingham City
Derby will face some familiar opponents this season with three new faces bing promoted into the championship this season as well as three familiar foes making their way back down.
The first of the promoted sides Derby won’t be too unfamiliar with returning on the first time of asking the EFL League One champions Birmingham City.
Chris Davies’ side will be quietly confident going into this season with whispers going around St Andrews of potentially back to back promotions.
The Rams will have their hands full with this Bluenose side with the likes of Jay Stansfield and Alfie May always possible to cause a threat.
Birmingham will also be Krystian Bielik’s first time returning to Pride Park.
Both these sides will be well into their 2025/26 campaigns by the first meeting between these two sides since 30th January 2022 where Derby County will have the pleasure of travelling to the St Andrews for a Boxing Day feast. Following this, the return match will take place on the 21st March where either side could be seeking revenge.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 49
Draws: 37
Birmingham Wins: 42
Last Five Results:
- Derby 2-2 Birmingham (30/1/22)
- Birmingham 2-0 Derby (10/9/21)
- Derby 1-2 Birmingham (24/4/21)
- Birmingham 0-4 Derby (29/12/20)
- Birmingham 1-3 Derby (22/6/20)
Wrexham
Wrexham are the second newly promoted team and will be making their return to the second tier of English football after a 43 year gap.
This follows several low points such as falling down into the regional leagues of English football to the high points of a Hollywood takeover and now being one of the most spoken about clubs in the world.
Wrexham will meet Derby County on September 27th when the Rams travel to the Racecourse Ground before welcoming Hollywood’s finest to Pride Park on January 4th. These fixtures are also the first league meetings between the clubs since 1982 with only an FA Cup third round match in 2007 being played since.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 5
Draws: 2
Wrexham Wins: 2
Last Five Results:
- Derby 3-1 Wrexham (6/1/07)
- Wrexham 1-1 Derby (3/4/82)
- Derby 2-1 Wrexham (14/11/81)
- Wrexham 2-2 Derby (28/2/81)
- Derby 0-1 Wrexham (20/9/80)
Charlton Athletic
Last but most certainly not least of the three promoted sides we have Charlton Athletic who make their return to the EFL Championship after a five year absence. This followed their relegation from the second tier at the end of the 2019-20 season.
Playing their football at the Valley, Derby fans will be very familiar with the Addicks last clash with the southeast London side having faced them in both of the Rams seasons in EFL League One.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 39
Draws: 20
Charlton Wins: 32
Last Five Results:
- Derby 1-2 Charlton (27/2/24)
- Charlton 0-1 Derby (3/2/24)
- Derby 2-0 Charlton (18/2/23)
- Charlton 1-0 Derby (6/8/22)
- Derby 2-1 Charlton (30/12/19)
The Three Relegated Sides From The Premier League
Southampton
The first of the three sides returning back to the EFL Championship after a tough fought season in the top flight Southampton who were very fortunate in the end to not come out of last season being record holders.
However, this does mean the Rams still hold the unwanted record of the lowest points total in Premier League history.
Derby will welcome Southampton on October 4th before having to make the long journey down to the south coast on the 11th of April.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 28
Draws: 24
Southampton Wins: 20
Last Five Results:
- Southampton 2-2 Derby (16/1/19)
- Derby 2-2 Southampton (5/1/19)
- Southampton 4-0 Derby (18/2/19)
- Derby 1-1 Southampton (15/10/11)
- Southampton 1-1 Derby (10/3/09)
Leicester City
The next relegated side we will focus on is Leicester City. This fixture has typically been a local affair between two historic foes. However, this will be the first league meeting between the two sides in 12 years.
Both games will take place over December with Derby County playing host on the 6th before closing out the month on the 29th by travelling to the King Power. Leicester will be looking to bounce straight back up so both games should be a good test of Eustace’s Derby sides character in this busy festive period.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 46
Draws: 28
Leicester Wins: 34
Last Five Results:
- Leicester 3-1 Derby (8/2/17)
- Derby 2-2 Leicester (27/1/17)
- Leicester 4-1 Derby (10/1/14)
- Leicester 2-1 Derby (24/9/13)
- Derby 0-1 Leicester (17/8/13)
Ipswich Town
Returning back to the second tier after just one year in the top flight is Ipswich Town after impressive back to back promotion campaigns which saw the Portman Road outfit finish second in back to back seasons. However, the jump to the Premier League was ultimately too large in the end.
But, impressive performances from Liam Delap did manage to bag the Tractor boys a hefty profit after just 12 months at Portman Road. This is money that could be used to invest in their dream of an automatic return to the Premier League.
Head To Head Record:
Derby Wins: 11
Draws: 7
Ipswich Wins: 21
Last Five Matches:
- Ipswich 1-0 Derby (21/10/22)
- Ipswich 1-1 Derby (13/2/19)
- Derby 2-0 Ipswich (21/8/18)
- Ipswich 1-2 Derby (30/12/17)
- Derby 0-1 Ipswich (28/11/17)
The All-Important Run-In Schedule
In Derby’s last five games the Rams will be on their travels for three of these matches opening up the homestretch with a trip down to the St Mary’s against a side looking to be challenging at the top end of the table.
Derby will get a week’s rest before they welcome Oxford United to Pride Park with Oxford managing to stay well clear of the drop in the end they will be hoping to have confirmed safety by this match or as a result from this match.
Three days later, Derby will travel to East Anglia to face Norwich City. After a disappointing campaign last season, fans of the Canaries will be hoping to be fighting for the playoffs at this stage of the season.
Five days later, the Rams go back on the road with London calling for the final time in the 2025/26 season as they set up against a QPR team that in the early stages of this transfer window look to be assembling a team that could well be up in the high reaches of the table in a similar fashion to Bristol City last season.
Finally, they welcome last season’s playoff finalists Sheffield United who will be looking to go one step further this season under the helm of Ruben Selles in his maiden Blades campaign.
Final Thoughts
This season is arguably a huge season for Derby with the owners backing John Eustace after going all out at the end of last season to get the man they wanted.
Furthermore, County’s owners can be seen to be backing their man with force. This is because of the signing of striker Carlton Morris. Furthermore, links with the likes of Danny Bath, Andreas Weimann and Lewis Travis also show both the owner’s and manager’s intent this summer..
All of these signings are great players for the EFL Championship and this may be just the players Derby need this summer to create an excellent squad.
It is important that the Rams get off to a good start because early momentum may be what Derby County need to gain crucial points and push themselves up the table.
Momentum will especially be crucial during the festive run as well as the run in schedule which both see the Pride Park outfit play tough teams. This can be seen through the fact that County have three away games with two of these teams arguably favourites.
However, all we as fans can do now is wait and watch.
Do you think Derby County will have a successful season. Tell us in the comments below.
