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We're back for a new season. This weekend sees the EFL and La Liga kick off and there’s silverware on offer too.

Seven great matches to take you from Friday to Sunday. It’s the Sound of Football Weekend Boxset.

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All times are UK

Friday

Championship: Wolverhampton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers

20.00 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
Rob Edwards was indulging in a bit of doom-scrolling on his socials when he first read the rumours that he was to be fired as Wolves boss. This only a few days after having announced the arrival of Kieran Trippier and Raul Jimenez. The club conducted a “comprehensive review” and decided to fire the guy who wasn’t invited to the review. While Edwards reflects on the wisdom of his decision to bail on Middlesbrough to go to Molineux, the club are moving on with new manager, Cesar Peixoto. The 46-year-old Portuguese joins from Primeira Liga side Gil Vicente and is seen as a Jorge Mendes hire. The super-agent has been a key figure in Wolves’ recruitment for the last decade. Peixoto started last weekend with a 3-0 home win against Port Vale in the EFL Cup. Life will not be quite so straightforward in the Championship but most commentators, analysts and bookmakers have them down for promotion. Blackburn are also well placed to exit the Championship albeit through a different door. Rovers survived the drop last season thanks in large part to the points deduction and general awfulness of Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday. But this season there are fewer obvious relegation contenders. Michael O’Neill left as caretaker manager to return to Northern Ireland. In comes Tony Mowbray, about whom you will find few with an unkind word to say. But the veteran coach faces a daunting task with a squad that suffers from a perineal lack of investment. Mowbray’s commitment to his profession is enviable but my goodness, it’s going to be a slog. TD

Saturday

League One: Notts County v Leicester City

12.30 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
A lot has happened over the last decade. Back at the start of 2016, only a fool would have suggested that 52% of the British public would vote to impose economic sanctions on themselves, that the land of the free would elect an orange-faced narcissist as caretaker of their massive thermonuclear weapons stockpile, or that Leicester City would become champions of England, throw it all away and end up back in the third tier. All pretty depressing unless perhaps you happen to enjoy being poorer, idolise insanity or support Nottingham Forest. Indeed, today’s visitors would once have described an encounter with Forest as their derby, the first fixture they look out for; this afternoon they visit the other Nottingham club which brings their current predicament into sharp focus. Drafted in to reverse their decline, the Foxes have put their trust in former Southampton and Rangers coach, Russell Martin. While he lasted only a few months at the usually tolerant and patient Glasgow club, he did well to return the Saints back to the Premier League at the first time of asking with, I have to say, a beautiful head of hair… (swoon!) It’s a tough task to turn around back-to-back relegations. My own club suffered the same fate, expected to bounce back, but ended up languishing there for several COVID-ridden years. The difference here is that with Martin at the helm, they have a man who knows how to get a club promoted. It also helps that, while the big earners may have departed, they still have some useful players in Stephy Mavididi, Hamza Choudhury and (Sunderland) play-off winner Tommy Watson who joined on loan from Brighton. Today’s hosts (Mags, but not the dirty variety) enjoyed play-off success of their own last term, putting them back into League One for the first time in over ten years and giving Championship side Burnley a decent game in the League Cup last week. This early on, with so much at stake for both clubs, it’s impossible to make a call either way. As I write, news is breaking that the Foxes have been put up for sale. Surely, Leicester have suffered enough. Haven’t they? JB

Championship: Sheffield United v Birmingham City

17.30 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra This season’s Championship comes with an added extra: the expansion of the play-offs. Since their introduction forty years ago, the play-offs have been contested by four teams. The only format change in that time came after their second running, replacing the lowest non-relegated team from the division above with the team in sixth place. This season SIX teams will take part in the post-season knock-out for a place in the Premier League. Teams finishing seventh and eighth will take on the sides finishing sixth and fifth respectively before facing either the third or fourth placed side in the semi-finals. Will the new format see teams approach the season any differently? Teams that would otherwise be happy with a top half finish now have something higher to aim for. Both of these sides finished in mid-table last season but both start the campaign hoping for much more (but doesn’t everyone). Sheffield United will hope that a better start than last season’s should help them push for the play-offs but without Gustavo Hamer, who was sold back to Coventry this week, Chris Wilder will need to strengthen in what remains of the transfer window. Less is expected of Birmingham City, but if they can find some form away from St Andrews that could change. Last season the Blues were the fourth best team in the division at home, but they were also the fourth worst team away. GS

La Liga: Sevilla v Rayo Vallecano

20.30 on Disney Plus
Sevilla fans will be hoping that this season sees their club avoid relegation by a greater margin than just one point, as they’ve done for the past two seasons. In fairness, last season they were safe with two rounds remaining and finished in 13th place in an insanely tight finish in the bottom half of La Liga. Vallecano, of course, reached the final of the Conference League, but their eighth place finish in the league wasn’t enough for another season of European adventures. The head coach who took them to that final, Inigo Perez has left for Villarreal and in comes Benat San Jose from Eibar. His preparation for this season has been hampered with serious issues regarding Vallecano’s home ground. The club will start their season playing home games at Leganés’ Butarque Stadium while the Vallecas undergoes much-needed remedial work following the discovery of a risk of Legionnaire’s disease. The ground is owned by the Community of Madrid, who have promised to pump €60 million into renovations and a new stand. Sevilla will be hoping they can get work permit clearance for their new €6.5 million signing, Scottish striker Robbie Ure from Swedish side Sirius. The 22-year-old has scored 15 goals in 15 games in this season’s Allsvenskan. GS

Sunday

Championship: Watford v Southampton

13.30 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
There was a point during the World Cup where I nearly forgot about the controversy of the Championship playoffs. As Southampton prepare to embark upon another promotion campaign there may still be consequences. Manager Tonda Eckert’s role in the spy scandal that cost the club four points and their place in the playoff final is still subject to an FA investigation and the German coach may yet face further punishment. It will be fun to see how the football family reacts to Eckert’s Southampton as they travel the league having been branded as cheats. There is a scenario where the coach gets a lengthy ban, the players are vilified, everywhere they go and it all falls apart. On the other hand, Eckert could escape a ban and succeeds in building a siege mentality which takes them to the Premier League. He must live without midfielder Shea Charles who is off to Fulham and they may lose more players before the end of the month. That’s why it’s vital they get off to a flyer and avoid chaos. At Watford, meanwhile, chaos is very much a feature rather than a bug. When he moved from Empoli to Vicarage Road Alessio Dionisi became the club’s 22nd (twenty-second) manager since the Pozzo family took over in 2012. The ownership seem to revel in instability but while they were some way short of promotion material, last season, they were one of the most watchable teams in the league. Who knows, with the playoff expanding by two places, the Hornets may make an unexpected appearance in the promotion picture. TD

FA Community Shield: Arsenal v Manchester City

15.00 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and HBO Max
It’s 20 years since the Community Shield was last played at Cardiff’s Millenium (now Principality) Stadium. Since that time it’s only moved from Wembley twice: firstly, in 2012, when it moved to Villa Park because of the Olympics, and then in 2022 it went to the King Power because of the final of the Women’s Euros. This time the traditional curtain is being raised in Cardiff because Wembley is hosting the Weeknd. The Community Shield is an unreliable metric for predicting the season to come but it should be remembered that the new City manager Enzo Maresca led his Chelsea side to win the Club World Cup, so he certainly has experience in winning meaningless titles and will see this as a perfect way to start his collection for City. Elliot Anderson will almost certainly make his debut for City after his big money move, to fill the gap left by Bernardo Silva. Arsenal have strengthened in attack bringing in Bruno Guimares from Newcastle and Cristos Tzolis from Club Brugge to replace Leo Trossard who has gone to Besiktas. However they have business to do as far as defensive cover is concerned. Regular back-up central defender Jakob Kiwior has moved to Porto and with William Saliba recovering from a fractured vertebrae, 16 year old Marli Salmon has been used in each of the Gunners’ pre-season friendlies. City are also relatively short of defensive cover with both John Stones and Nathan Ake leaving in the summer. GS

Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Final: Cameroon v Malawi

20.00 on E4 and CAF TV YouTube
Who’s the best player in the world right now? Allesia Russo? Maybe. Aitana Bonmati? Well, she keeps winning Ballon D’Ors. Or is it Temwa Chawinga? The NWSL top scorer and MVP for both 2024 and 2025 seasons. Playing for Kansas City Current she’s never played in the UEFA Women’s Champions League or a big international tournament, which is probably why she never features on the short-lists for international awards or makes the FIFA Best XI. That may change after this tournament as she, and her elder sister Tabitha (who plays for Lyon) have taken Malawi, ranked 153 in the world, to a continental final in their country’s first major tournament. They’ve already topped the Group of Death against the holders Nigeria and much-fancied Zambia, and seen off Ghana and Algeria in the knockout stages. They face a Cameroon side looking to win a final of this competition at the fourth time of asking. The hero of their semi-final against the hosts Morocco was goalkeeper Michaely Bihina. She saved a 118th minute penalty when the score was 0-0 and went on to save three of four kicks in the following shoot-out. GS

Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry and Jan