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651 non-league clubs have been whittled down to 32. How many will progress?

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

FA Cup first round: Oxford City v Leicester City

19.45 on TNT Sports 1 & Ultimate and HBO Max
The first game of the first round proper of the FA Cup has big upset potential. Leicester, who were Premier League champions in 2016 and FA Cup winners in 2021, find themselves reduced to playing at this stage of the competition for the first time since they beat Stevenage in 2008. While the Foxes have suffered third tier football in recent memory, the rate of their latest decline must be traumatising. And as Sunderland fans will reminds us, life in the third tier after a double relegation is tough with no guarantees of a swift return. Of course, the club leadership have done themselves no favours with the appointment of Russell Martin as manager. The former Southampton and Rangers boss has developed a reputation for being a tactical ideologue. His rigidity proved to be too much for his promoted Southampton team and the less said about the mess he made in Glasgow the better. Since taking over he has presided over losses to Luton, Oxford, Burton, and Peterborough. Needless to say, the fans are up in arms, while Martin himself is unrepentant. Now they travel to Oxford City, who are sitting second in the National League North, level on points with Macclesfield, who did for Crystal Palace in the third round last season. In front of a tiny but packed stadium on a 3G pitch and under the lights; it’s all set up for a club from that league to claim another scalp. TD

Saturday

Championship: Wrexham v Wolverhampton Wanderers

12.00 on Sky Sports Football, Main Event & Ultra
Wrexham’s sophomore year in the Championship is proving to be more of a challenge. There is of course plenty of time in the season (with two extra play-off spots, there's probably plenty of time until early April) but already manager Phil Parkinson is under pressure. The optics of sacking a coach who has taken the club from the National League to the cusp of the Premier League won’t be great for an ownership that takes optics seriously. I can also imagine that parting company with a man who has given the club so many special moments would be extremely painful. Fortunately, the pressure was eased on Wednesday with a rousing 2-0 win over league leaders Middlesbrough which lifted the club to seventeenth. Although, striker Sean Smith will be out for at least 9 months after tearing his ACL leaving just two fit front men. Wolves moved into second, on the same day, thanks to a rousing comeback win at Bristol City. Scott Twine’s beautifully spun free kick for the home side was trumped, late in the game, by two tap-ins from super-sub Sean Neave. The 19-year-old striker is on loan from Newcastle and scored his first two goals for the club. Eyebrows were raised when manager Rob Edwards was ditched for Cesar Peixoto but the Portuguese coach seems to be a good fit: brave enough to blood youngsters and appearing to have the trust of his players. TD

FA Cup first round: Altrincham v Notts County

17.30 on BBC Two & iPlayer, TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max
This is a match that oozes with history. Notts County are the oldest team in the football league, and Altrincham were double winners of the Alliance Premier (the old Conference National), and in another world would have been part of the 92 but were continually denied under the old election system. But there's another reason the powers that be have selected this match for TV. Out of all the clubs who have never made it to the Football League, the Robins hold the record for the most giant-killings. And there's more than a whiff of an upset in this fixture. Notts County sit three points above the League One relegation zone and have been in exceptionally indifferent form this season. Altrincham, meanwhile, are in the Conference National play-off spots and have home advantage. Moss Lane, one of the nicest grounds in non-league I've visited, will be rocking. The odds look good for the Robins to add another scalp to their FA Cup achievements. GA

MLS: Cincinnati v Nashville

21.00 on Apple TV
It’s the final weekend of the 2026 regular season of MLS, the last full season before the league converts to a winter schedule for 27/28. Matters in the Eastern Conference are almost sewn up. Nashville have already secured the Supporters Shield and need just a draw to set a new points scoring record for an MLS season (set by Inter Miami: 74 in 2024). Cincinnati need to win this to keep the in-form Columbus Crew from snatching their seeded play-off spot. If Cincinnati fail, they will drop into the wildcard play-off against Orlando and then they would have to face Nashville again in a best of three series. Nashville look unstoppable but history tells us that once the play-offs start fortunes can quickly change — since 2002 only four winners of the Supporters Shield have gone on to win the MLS Cup, and only five have managed to get as far as the final. At midnight the chase for MLS Cup berths continues with the final round of the Western Conference, with six teams fighting over three remaining places. To hold on to their place in the post-season, LA Galaxy will need to beat Real Salt Lake, who will be looking to win and for other results to go their way. GS

Sunday

FA Cup first round: Stafford Rangers v Grimsby Town

12.00 on TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max
In the 1970s, Stafford Rangers were a force in non-league football. During that decade they won the FA Trophy twice, were founder members of the Alliance Premier and reached the fourth round of the FA Cup. Recent history has had more lows than highs; this is the first time they’ve made it to the first round proper in 20 years. Last season they avoided relegation to the fifth tier of non-league by just two points but have enjoyed a promising start to this campaign and sit second in the Northern Premier One West despite having missed a number of games with this cup run. They beat Gateshead of the National League 5-0 in a replay in the 4th qualifying round (although it must be said The Heed are having serious problems right now). You don’t have to go too far back to when Grimsby themselves were a non-league side, promoted back to the EFL in 2022 via the play-offs. The Mariners were twice semi-finalists in this competition in their heyday in the 1930s. Grimsby will prove a much sterner test than Gateshead but even if Boros’ Cup journey ends here it could still be transformative for the club. As well as a boost in local interest in the club, the TV fee of £50,000 plus a minimum of £18,000 prize money will be the club’s biggest cash injection since they sold Stan Collymore to Crystal Palace in 1990. GS

Premier League: Sunderland v Chelsea

14.00 on Sky Sports Premier League
In May, Chelsea went to the Stadium of Light on the final day of the Premier League season. Sunderland’s head coach, Regis Le Bris, knew a win over the West London giants would bring European football to the banks of the River Wear for the first time in over half a century. The ebb and flow of those intervening years had often been painful, briefly punctuated by Peter Reid’s successful reign. As the game concluded, the enormous scoreboards flashed up the words “Europe confirmed” turning the Stadium of Light into a cauldron of celebration. Moments later, captain Granit Xhaka addressed the jubilant and raucous crowd with the words “I can promise you from my side as captain of the football club, this is just the beginning and we want more”. Leading the recognition of their deflated away support was Chelsea interim head coach, Calum McFarlane, who later told the media he was “gutted” and “disappointed”. McFarlane, who had already replaced Enzo Maresca and the often unfathomable and always confusing Liam Rosenior, returned to his previous backroom role. Fast forward to the present day and the fortunes of these two sides couldn’t have been more different. Chelsea brought in the highly coveted Xabi Alonso alongside a raft of quality signings in the form of Rogers, Martinez and Lacroix. Chelsea may still be adjusting to their new coach’s methods, but they sit fourth in the table (third, really) and in their next four games they’ll play all of the current bottom three, plus a home tie against Leeds. By contrast Sunderland are propping up the table, having missed the chance to climb into safety last week when the teams around them all lost, only for the Lads to put out another error-ridden performance at newly promoted Coventry. Reggie recently cited injuries and the additional fixtures that Europe brings as a factor in results, which only shines a light on what has been poor planning and execution in the transfer market. Another poor performance here and you can expect the Stadium of Light to echo to the sounds of anger and discontent from those who bother to stay to the final whistle. As for the captain, he needs to live up to the words he spoke in May, something we’ve not seen from him so far. JB

Premier League: Manchester United v Aston Villa

16.30 on Sky Sports Premier League, Main Event & Ultra
I am eternally grateful to Mathias Cunha. Not because I have any particular feelings towards United, but it means Michael Carrick is far less likely to be sacked between me submitting my preview and the Boxset landing in your inboxes. Whether the quite incredible comeback against Roma midweek will do anything more than grant the manager a stay of execution is debatable — United were particularly insipid in the first half — but it does send a message that the players haven’t given up and are willing to fight for Carrick. That may count for a lot and the manner of the fightback on Wednesday night is the type of victory that can ignite a season. And this is not a bad fixture to take momentum into. Villa are very much a side in transition under Unai Emery, and have a particularly miserable recent record at Old Trafford. Having lost the spine of his team over the summer, there’s a sense that Emery has a bit of a free pass and goodwill while he rebuilds. Villa aren’t a bad team, but they’re very beatable. If Carrick wants to keep his job, this is the type of fixture he needs to win. GA


Whatever you watch, have a great weekend.

Graham, Terry, Jan and Gary