West Brom and Burnley will be happier than most with their Championship openers

Paul Okey
23 June 2022

Fulham celebrate winning the Championship by lifting the trophy in May 2022

Planet Sport looks back at the Championship opening day fixtures to see if we might be able to read anything into the 2022/23 release.

The Championship fixture list has been released and the opening-day fixture is the first everyone looks for.

And for those fans dreaming of a title push, there are a few decent omens to spot from that first game.

Looking back over the 18 seasons of the Championship, the title winners are most likely to face an away game in their opener - 12 times the champions have been handed an away fixture to kick off their campaign.

Yorkshire opposition is the most likely, with 'God's Own County' providing the opposition for the team who went on to finish first on seven occasions. Midlands opposition comes next on four.

And delving deeper, three times the champions have been pitted against Middlesbrough on the opening day (twice at home), with Huddersfield also providing the opposition for the eventual champions on three occasions (twice away).

In fact, beating the Terriers on the opening day has led to Cardiff, Bournemouth and Norwich going on to be crowned champions.

This season, it is Burnley who kick off their season with a trip to Huddersfield, while West Brom are Middlesbrough's first opponents. Both games will be live on Sky Sports.

Opening Championship fixtures 🍿

Blackburn v QPR
Blackpool v Reading
Cardiff v Norwich
Huddersfield v Burnley
Hull v Bristol
Luton v Birmingham
Middlesbrough v West Brom
Millwall v Stoke
Rotherham v Swansea
Sunderland v Coventry
Watford v Sheffield Utd
Wigan v Preston pic.twitter.com/Soz0DZjTm6
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) June 23, 2022

A win on the opening day isn't a must for any team with designs on winning the Championship, however.

Only seven champions have won their opening day fixture, with six draws. In fact, in the first four seasons of the newly rebranded Championship, the team that won the league actually kicked off their campaign with a defeat.

And, looking back to last year, Fulham also made a stuttering start, drawing 1-1 at home. But at least it was Middlesbrough.

Season	Champions	Opening fixture	Result
2004/05	Sunderland	Coventry (a)	Lost 2-0
2005/06	Reading	Plymouth (h)	Lost 2-1
2006/07	Sunderland	Coventry (a)	Lost 2-1
2007/08	West Brom	Burnley (a)	Lost 2-1
2008/09	Wolves	Plymouth (a)	Drew 2-2
2009/10	Newcastle	West Brom (a)	Drew 1-1
2010/11	QPR	Barnsley (h)	Won 4-0
2011/12	Reading	Millwall (h)	Drew 2-2
2012/13	Cardiff	Huddersfield (h)	Won 1-0
2013/14	Leicester	Middlesbrough (a)	Won 2-1
2014/15	Bournemouth	Huddersfield (a)	Won 4-0
2015/16	Burnley	Leeds (a)	Drew 1-1
2016/17	Newcastle	Fulham (a)	Lost 1-0
2017/18	Wolves	Middlesbrough (h)	Won 1-0
2018/19	Norwich	Birmingham (a)	Drew 2-2
2019/20	Leeds	Bristol City (a)	Won 3-1
2020/21	Norwich	Huddersfield (a)	Won 1-0
2021/22	Fulham	Middlesbrough (h)	Drew 1-1