2025-26 Sky Bet Championship: Week One – Friday

Birmingham City meet Ipswich Town in the 2025-26 Sky Bet Championship opener. 

Birmingham are back in the Championship after just one season in League One, whilst Ipswich likewise return to the division following their relegation from the Premier League.

 

Team News

Birmingham have a full squad available as new signing, Kyogo Furuhashi chases a start after he was benched for their final pre-season friendly, which saw them beat Nottingham Forest.

New signing, Marvin Ducksh could make his debut for the Blues following his move late on Thursday morning before the registration deadline.

Ipswich will be without Conor Townsend after the defender suffered an ACL injury in their pre-season friendly against Auxerre.

 

When is Kick-Off?

Birmingham host Ipswich at St Andrew’s on Friday 8 August at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Football.

 

Stat Attack

• Birmingham have won just one of their last five meetings against Ipswich (W1, D3, L1).
• Ipswich have failed to win any of their last seven visits to Birmingham City (D4, L3).
• Both of Birmingham’s last two home games against Ipswich ended in 2-2 draws, albeit with Birmingham having come from 2-0 down in September 2018 then Ipswich likewise in November 2023.
• Birmingham are unbeaten in their last seven opening-weekend fixtures (W3, D4).
• Ipswich have lost just one of their last 11 opening-weekend fixtures (W6, D4, L1).

 

Prediction

Having endured a pretty inconsistent pre-season in which they struggled a bit against lower-league opposition but beat Sevilla and Nottingham Forest, Birmingham are a tricky team to call in my opinion but they have been proactive in their transfer business with decent signings.

Ipswich meanwhile have done a great job of keeping the core of their squad together but Liam Delap’s departure leaves a void up front, which Ali Al-Hamadi seems to have filled well in pre-season but it remains to be seen if he can deliver consistently in the season itself.

Nevertheless neither team will want to lose this season-opener but Ipswich’s continuity might just be the difference, although Birmingham have enough depth to cause some issues and snatch a draw if they hit the ground running quickly.

Prediction: Birmingham 1-2 Ipswich

Result: Birmingham 1-1 Ipswich