2026–27 Watford F.C. season

Watford
2026–27 season
Owner	Gino Pozzo
Chairman	Scott Duxbury
Head coach	Alessio Dionisi
Stadium	Vicarage Road
	← 2025–26 2027–28 →

The 2026–27 season is the 128th season in the history of Watford and their fifth consecutive season in the Championship. The club are participating in the Championship, the FA Cup, and the EFL Cup.

Managerial changes

Prior to the season starting, Alessio Dionisi was appointed as the new head coach on a two-year contract.^[1]

Transfers and contracts

In

Date	Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Ref.

Out

Date	Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Ref.
3 July 2026	GK	Nathan Baxter	Leyton Orient	Undisclosed	^[2]
6 July 2026	CAM	Giorgi Chakvetadze	Udinese	Undisclosed	^[3]

Loaned in

Date	Pos.	Player	From	Date until	Ref.

Loaned out

Date	Pos.	Player	To	Loaned until	Ref.
23 June 2026	CF	Jorge Hurtado	Deportes Tolima	End of Season	^[4]
16 July 2026	CF	Vivaldo Semedo	Alverca	End of Season	^[5]

Released / Out of Contract

Date	Pos.	Player	Subsequent club	Joined date	Ref.
30 June 2026	CF	Jonathan Lawson	FF Jaro	13 July 2026	^[6]^[7]
	CF	Tobi Adeyemo			^[6]
	CM	Hayden Barrett			^[6]
	CM	Pierre Dwomoh			^[8]
	RW	Tom Ince			^[6]
	CB	Ian Kamga			^[6]
	LW	Josh Keyes			^[6]
	CDM	Nampalys Mendy			^[6]
	GK	Myles Roberts			^[6]
	RW	Kristian Shevchenko			^[6]

New Contract

Date	Pos.	Player	Expiration	Ref.
22 May 2026	CDM	Tom Dele-Bashiru	30 June 2027	^[6]
	CF	Jack Grieves		^[6]
	CM	Edo Kayembe		^[6]

Pre-season and friendlies

On 14 January, Watford confirmed their first pre-season friendly against Hansa Rostock to celebrate the German sides 60th anniversary.^[9] Two further friendlies were confirmed by the club in May, against Boreham Wood and Barnet.^[10] On 18 June, it was announced that Fiorentina would visit during pre-season.^[11]

Win Draw Loss Fixtures

11 July 2026 Friendly	Boreham Wood	2–1	Watford	Borehamwood
15:00 BST	White 18' Trialist 84'	Report	Doumbia 56'	Stadium: Meadow Park

15 July 2026 Friendly	Barnet	2–2	Watford	Edgware
19:45 BST	Lakin 38' Noel-Williams 64'	Report	Massiah-Edwards 40' Kjerrumgaard 83'	Stadium: The Hive Stadium

25 July 2026 Friendly	Watford	v	Hansa Rostock	Watford
14:00 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

29 July 2026 Friendly	Watford	v	Fiorentina	Watford
19:30 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

Competitions

Overall record

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Championship	August 2026		Matchday 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
FA Cup	January 2027		Third round	0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
EFL Cup	August 2026		First round	0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—
Total				0	0	0	0	0	0	+0	!—

Last updated: pre-season
Source: Soccerway

Championship

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
17	Stoke City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Swansea City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Watford	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	West Bromwich Albion	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	West Ham United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 14 August 2026. Source: EFL Official Website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) Number of 12-point sending off offences; 9) Play-off (only if needed to determine promotion/relegation)^[12]

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Last updated: pre-season.
Source: Soccerway

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Ground	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A
Result
Position
Points

Source: Soccerway
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; P = Postponed
Notes:

Matches

On 25 June, the Championship fixtures were revealed.^[13]

Win Draw Loss Fixtures

16 August 2026 1	Watford	v	Southampton	Watford
13:30 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

22 August 2026 2	Wrexham	v	Watford	Wrexham
15:00 BST				Stadium: Racecourse Ground

29 August 2026 3	Watford	v	West Ham United	Watford
15:00 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

1 September 2026 4	Swansea City	v	Watford	Landore
19:45 BST				Stadium: Swansea.com Stadium

5 September 2026 5	West Bromwich Albion	v	Watford	West Bromwich
15:00 BST				Stadium: The Hawthorns

8 September 2026 6	Watford	v	Preston North End	Watford
19:45 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

12 September 2026 7	Watford	v	Stoke City	Watford
15:00 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

18 September 2026 8	Bristol City	v	Watford	Ashton Gate
20:00 BST				Stadium: Ashton Gate Stadium
Note: Fixture was initially scheduled for 19 September, but was rescheduled to the night before for live Sky Sports broadcasting.^[14]

10 October 2026 9	Watford	v	Burnley	Watford
15:00 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

13 October 2026 10	Cardiff City	v	Watford	Leckwith
19:45 BST				Stadium: Cardiff City Stadium

17 October 2026 11	Watford	v	Charlton Athletic	Watford
15:00 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

24 October 2026 12	Wolverhampton Wanderers	v	Watford	Wolverhampton
15:00 BST				Stadium: Molineux Stadium

31 October 2026 13	Norwich City	v	Watford	Norwich
15:00 GMT				Stadium: Carrow Road

FA Cup

Win Draw Loss Fixtures

EFL Cup

Watford were drawn at home to either York City or Crawley Town in the first round.^[15]^[16]

Win Draw Loss Fixtures

8 August 2026 First round	Watford	v	York City or Crawley Town	Watford
15:00 BST				Stadium: Vicarage Road

Statistics

Appearances, goals and discipline

As of pre-season

Players with no appearances are not included on the list; italics indicate loaned in player

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Championship		FA Cup		EFL Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

References

↑ "Dionisi Appointed As Head Coach". Watford FC. 15 June 2026. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
↑ "Baxter Joins Leyton Orient". Watford FC. 3 July 2026. Retrieved 3 July 2026.
↑ "Chakvetadze Departs". Watford FC. 6 July 2026. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
↑ "Jorge Cabezas Hurtado, Nuevo Refuerzo 'Pijao'" (in Spanish). La Kancha. 23 June 2026. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
↑ "Semedo Joins Alverca On Loan". Watford FC. 16 July 2026. Retrieved 16 July 2026.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Released & Renewed List Confirmed". Watford FC. 22 May 2026. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
↑ "Välkomna till Jeppis, Altti & Jonathan". Facebook. FF Jaro. 13 July 2026. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
↑ "Player Departures Confirmed". Watford FC. 1 July 2026. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
↑ "Hansa Rostock Friendly Confirmed". Watford FC. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
↑ "Two Friendlies Confirmed". Watford FC. 18 May 2026. Retrieved 18 May 2026.
↑ "Fiorentina Friendly Confirmed". Watford FC. 18 June 2026. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
↑ "Section 3 - The League". EFL Official Website. subsection 9 – Method of Determining League Positions. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2026.
↑ "Hornets To Host Southampton On Opening Day". Watford FC. 25 June 2026. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
↑ "New Date For Bristol City Trip". Watford FC. 2 July 2026. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
↑ "Watford Drawn Against York Or Crawley". Watford FC. 25 June 2026. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
↑ "First Round Date Confirmed". Watford FC. 7 July 2026. Retrieved 7 July 2026.

[1] "Dionisi Appointed As Head Coach". Watford FC. 15 June 2026. Retrieved 15 June 2026.

[2] "Baxter Joins Leyton Orient". Watford FC. 3 July 2026. Retrieved 3 July 2026.

[3] "Chakvetadze Departs". Watford FC. 6 July 2026. Retrieved 6 July 2026.

[4] "Jorge Cabezas Hurtado, Nuevo Refuerzo 'Pijao'" (in Spanish). La Kancha. 23 June 2026. Retrieved 1 July 2026.

[5] "Semedo Joins Alverca On Loan". Watford FC. 16 July 2026. Retrieved 16 July 2026.

[RetainList-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Released & Renewed List Confirmed". Watford FC. 22 May 2026. Retrieved 22 May 2026.

[7] "Välkomna till Jeppis, Altti & Jonathan". Facebook. FF Jaro. 13 July 2026. Retrieved 13 July 2026.

[8] "Player Departures Confirmed". Watford FC. 1 July 2026. Retrieved 1 July 2026.

[9] "Hansa Rostock Friendly Confirmed". Watford FC. 14 January 2026. Retrieved 17 February 2026.

[10] "Two Friendlies Confirmed". Watford FC. 18 May 2026. Retrieved 18 May 2026.

[11] "Fiorentina Friendly Confirmed". Watford FC. 18 June 2026. Retrieved 18 June 2026.

[EFL_Regulationsb23-24-12] "Section 3 - The League". EFL Official Website. subsection 9 – Method of Determining League Positions. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2026.

[13] "Hornets To Host Southampton On Opening Day". Watford FC. 25 June 2026. Retrieved 25 June 2026.

[14] "New Date For Bristol City Trip". Watford FC. 2 July 2026. Retrieved 2 July 2026.

[15] "Watford Drawn Against York Or Crawley". Watford FC. 25 June 2026. Retrieved 25 June 2026.

[16] "First Round Date Confirmed". Watford FC. 7 July 2026. Retrieved 7 July 2026.

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