While much of the nation was still agonising over England's tepid World Cup group-stage stalemate with Ghana, the 2026-27 EFL fixtures were released 84 days ago. It's a magical day of the year for many of us, 35 weekends stretch before you on a blank canvas. For most of us, 95.65% of those fixtures are fillers on the calendar; something to look forward to, sure - the first home game, your birthday weekend, the chance to visit a new away ground, an opportunity to catch up with old faces.
It's the other 4.35% that really get your pulse racing, however. Your biggest rival, home and away, the weekend you block out entirely because you know nothing else will matter in your life when it rolls around. Last May's promotion and relegation hokey-cokey has ensured this season will be different, very different, for fans of several Championship clubs who get to renew long-standing rivalries which have been forged over decades, based on geography, history and quite simply not liking each other very much.
This weekend will be the first blocked out on tens of thousands of calendars this season, here's why... On Saturday lunchtime ( ), Millwall and West Ham will renew one of the most hostile rivalries in English football for the first time in almost 15 years. Forged as the 'Dockers Derby', thanks to the clubs' roots in London's shipyards, these two have been going at it since 1899, when Millwall Athletic won 2-1 at West Ham in the FA Cup.
They have met 60 times in total, but just seven of those encounters have come in the past 33 years. Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder was not referring to this bitter affair, which spilled over into trouble on and off the pitch when the sides met in a cup fixture in 2009. BBC Radio London's Nick Godwin said the scenes "left a scar on football in the city".
He added: "London derbies generally run by their own rules. The expectations, the crowd, the sense of proximity - they all add to an air of unpredictability. "However, Millwall against West Ham operates on a different level.
This match walks a tightrope whenever and wherever it is played. Unlike so many clashes involving sides in the capital, this one happens infrequently." Quiz: Can you remember West Ham & Millwall's last derby? Millwall v West Ham - the London derby that walks a tightrope 'We'll give it to them' - Taylor on West Ham Their only season in the league together in the past 22 years was 2011-12.
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