Wrexham, Leeds and the biggest EFL fixtures to watch this season in Championship, League One and League Two

The new football season begins in a matter of days and it will be the English Football League leading the charge for the 2024-25 season, starting on Friday, Aug. 9 when Blackburn Rovers welcome Derby County to Ewood Park. Come late May we will doubtless be sated by months of high-grade drama ending in the reward of promotion, the existential crisis of relegation and the heady drama of the playoffs.

This season and for the three after it, you'll be able to watch at least 250 matches from the Championship, League One, League Two the EFL Trophy and the EFL Cup on CBS Sports. That is an awful lot of hours of high-quality football to sift through but what are some of the matches and storylines you should be on the lookout for over the next nine months? Let us be your guide to the big games ahead.

First, the opening weekend schedule:

Opening EFL schedule

Friday, Aug. 9
Blackburn vs. Derby County, 3 p.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network
Preston North End vs. Sheffield United, 3 p.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network

Saturday, Aug. 10
Oxford United vs. Norwich City, 7:30 a.m. on Paramount+
Leeds United vs. Portsmouth, 7:30 a.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
Middlesbrough vs. Swansea City, 7:30 a.m. on Paramount+
Cardiff City vs. Sunderland, 7:30 a.m. on Paramount+
Queens Park Rangers vs. West Brom, 7:30 a.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network
Milton Keynes Dons vs. Bradford City, 10 a.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network
Birmingham City vs. Reading, 12:30 p.m. on Paramount+
Wrexham vs. Wycombe Wanderers, 12:30 p.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Network

Sunday, Aug. 11
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Plymouth Argyle, 11 a.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network

Monday, Aug. 12
Luton Town vs. Burnley, 3 p.m. on Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network

Biggest games to watch this season

All times ET and all fixture dates are subject to change

1. Leeds United vs. Portsmouth, Aug. 10 at 7:30 a.m. (Paramount+ and CBS Sports Golazo Network)

The Championship serves up a smorgasbord of quality on the opening weekend, 10 of the games live across Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network and CBS Sports Network. You won't be short on options, whether you're intrigued by Oxford's return to the Championship, how Sheffield United might fare under Chris Wilder or whether Luton Town can bounce back after their thrilling season in the Premier League. This column, however, will be diving into Leeds' clash with Portsmouth. Two clubs who have been through the wringer on and off the pitch, dreaming of better times ahead. 

Leeds rank among the promotion favorites despite the loss of big names including Archie Gray and Glen Kamara. Portsmouth are another historic force of the English game, twice top-flight champions, now back in the Championship after a 12-year exile. The likes of Ipswich Town and Pompey's arch-rivals Southampton have proven that double promotion can be done and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that John Mousinho's side could at least find themselves in the playoff mix. For two grand old teams like these, the Championship ought only to be a stepping stone. Both will want to take a first big stride on Saturday.

2. Harrogate Town vs. Bromley, Aug. 10 at 10 a.m.

Some matches are available on each club's iFollow networks, hence why it is worth spotlighting this particular matchup in League Two. After all, it will be the first-ever match in the English Football League for Bromley, the southeast London club founded in 1892 who only reached the sixth tier of the game 115 years later. Led by Andy Woodman, a former goalkeeping coach at a host of Premier League clubs, the Ravens reached the promised land in thrilling fashion back in May, beating Solihull Moors in a penalty shootout at Wembley where Grant Smith made two brilliant saves.

Their opening-day opponents will have much to tell Bromley about the adaptation period to the Football League. It was only four years ago that Harrogate Town made it to the promised land and these two may well be scrapping to avoid the trap door to the Conference over the months ahead. There'd be no harm in a fast start.

3. Coventry City vs. Norwich City, Aug. 31 at 7:30 a.m.

A host of U.S. men's national team talent should give Gregg Berhalter's successor good reason to keep a close eye on the English lower leagues over the next few months. From that perspective there may be no more intriguing game than the match-up between Coventry City's Haji Wright and Josh Sargent of Norwich City, should he still be at the club. Both these forwards parlayed impressive seasons in the second tier into a spot on the Copa America roster but neither forward has quite managed to carve out a starting role for themselves on the international stage.

Could another season filled with Championship goals change that? It certainly couldn't hurt and would surely put Wright and Sargent in the shop window with the 2026 World Cup looming large.

4. AFC Wimbledon vs. MK Dons, Sept. 14 at 7:30 a.m.

Amid all the rivalries across the English game, there is nothing with quite the same outright loathing as that between AFC Wimbledon and MK Dons. That is easy to understand. While owners upping sticks to another town might be an unfortunate reality in U.S. sports, the decision by the owners of Wimbledon FC to abandon south London for Milton Keynes in the early 2000s brought controversy across the English game. Out of the ashes came AFC Wimbledon, whose rapid ascent up the league has brought them face-to-face with MK on 15 occasions already since their first meeting in 2012.

Unsurprisingly, the enmity from Plough Lane has not eased. In past fixtures the scoreboard has not carried MK Dons' name, matchday paraphernalia simply referring to them as the away team. Tensions invariably run high when MK Dons turn up in south London but that tends to translate into absorbing action on the pitch.

5. Birmingham City vs. Wrexham AFC, Sept. 16 at 3 p.m.

A Game that will offer a sense of where the EFL might be heading off the pitch. In the blue corner, it's seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. In the red, it's Deadpool. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny weren't the first to invest in the lower levels of English Football but their success at Wrexham has drawn some of the country's biggest names to the sort of clubs that many stateside would be unfamiliar with only a few years ago. Aside from all the IP, the Football itself could be very intriguing too. Both Birmingham and Wrexham will be among the favorites to earn promotion from League One. This could be a Game with plenty of ramifications on the pitch even if the biggest names are in the stands.

6. Sheffield United vs. Sheffield Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7 a.m.

We could have picked any one of a boatload of derbies across the EFL, from the rancour in South Wales to the resumed rivalry between Blackburn and Burnley, El Lanclasico as they call it up in Lancashire. Because absence has made the heart grow fonder, it'll be the Steel City derby that we have an eye on in November, hoping that it isn't yet another goalless stalemate between Sheffields United and Wednesday. Certainly this has been a Game that has delivered in the past, from the Boxing Day Massacre in 1979 to the Bouncing Day Massacre 38 years later. The sort of match that could supercharge United's promotion bid, this is going to deliver the most febrile atmosphere you could get on your TV at 7 a.m. in the middle of November.

7. Blackburn Rovers vs. Sunderland, Dec. 26 at 10 a.m.

A festive feast of football is on the EFL menu this December, where teams will play on the weekend of the 21st, Boxing Day and the 29th before carrying on into New Year's Day and Jan. 4. It can often be the period that defines what a team can achieve and for clubs such as Blackburn and Sunderland it constitutes a major pivot point. Build momentum in that draining run of games and these sides could find themselves in the mix for the playoffs, if not better. Drop points and the bottom third could have a spot for them.

8. Burnley vs. Leeds United, Jan. 25 at 10 a.m.

It can be something of a fool's errand attempting to pick the likely winners of a division as competitive as the Championship but both relegated Burnley and Leeds, who fell just short in last season's playoff final, figure to be in the mix. Burnley have a new manager in the dugout after Vincent Kompany departed for Bayern Munich. Scott Parker's reputation was not necessarily enhanced on promotion with Bournemouth but he got them out of the division having done the same with Fulham as well. At the time of writing the Clarets have not lost too many key players from the squad that went down from the Premier League -- one that looked to be designed with half an eye on a possible Championship return -- and they should be serious promotion contenders. Indeed a win at Turf Moor in late January could mark them out as the team to catch.

9. West Bromwich Albion vs. Luton Town, May 3 at 10 a.m.

It is hard enough to predict what will happen on the opening day of the Championship season. Making a call on which game will have the most at stake 45 games later is mad. Anyway, here we go. Both West Brom and Luton promise to be the sort of teams who could be on the very cusp of the playoff picture, battling it out until the final day either for seeding, a spot in the playoffs at all or perhaps even an automatic promotion berth. If Rob Edwards and Carlos Corberan are still in charge, expect a direct, fast-paced and robust meeting between these two, one where the stakes could be vertiginously high in the last few minutes ... maybe.

10. Playoff final weekend: May 24-26

One thing we can say with certainty, the weekend of the playoff finals will make for rewarding viewing. The prestige and money that comes with jumping up from League One and League Two is notable but of course, it pales into insignificance compared with the richest Game in sport, the Championship playoff final, estimated to be worth nearly $180 million to Leeds and Southampton last season and worth even more if the teams bound for Wembley in late May aren't in receipt of parachute payments. From Joe Bryan's stunning free kick to the three goals of Clive Mendonca, this is a Game where legends are made, where clubs are changed, perhaps for a generation. You won't want to miss that!