Following the announcement of the fixtures for the 2023/24 Sky Bet Championship season, the Watford faithful will be eagerly anticipating the start of the new campaign.

Ahead of the opener against Queens Park Rangers (Saturday August 5), we take a look at the stats, facts and figures that surround the freshly-revealed schedule.

Distance

229 – Sunderland’s Stadium of Light remains the ground that is furthest away from Vicarage Road as the crow flies, at 229 miles. Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium is ranked second at 205 miles, while newly-promoted Plymouth Argyle slots into third at 184 miles.

12 – The closest ground remains QPR’s Loftus Road, the curtain-raiser this term, at just 12 miles in White City, London. Coming in as runner-up is Millwall at 18 miles, while recently-relegated Southampton rank third at 66 miles.

119 – As the crow flies, Watford supporters will, on average, travel 119.4 miles to away matches this season.

Capacity

49,000 – Once again, the Black Cats’ Stadium of Light remains firmly top for ground capacity in the second-tier, with Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough second at just under 40,000. Another fresh-faced side that is entering the division is Leeds United – Elland Road is ranked third at 37,600.

12,000 – Rotherham United’s New York Stadium is home to the smallest capacity within the Championship at 12,000. Plymouth are second with Home Park’s 17,900 and QPR are third with just over 18,000.

Reunited

This is the first time the Hornets will face Plymouth since April 2010, when a deciding goal from Heiðar Helguson secured a 1-0 victory at Vicarage Road.

The Pilgrims and the Golden Boys will meet back at The Vic on August 12 and at Home Park on New Year’s Day.

Meanwhile, it’s been over eight years since Ipswich Town last faced Watford – playing most recently in March 2015. The two sides will meet on December 12 at The Vic and on April 10 at Portman Road.

Also, recently-demoted Leeds United, Leicester City and Southampton will face Watford in the second-tier having all previously met in 2022 during the 2021/22 Premier League campaign. In the Championship, the Hornets last faced the former top-flight sides in 2015, 2014 and 2012 respectively.

Familiar Foes

5 – This will be the fifth consecutive season that the Hornets and Norwich City have been in the same division, with that record having started in 2019 in the top-flight.

From the current Championship crop, Watford have faced Cardiff City the most of any team having played each other 22 times since the competition changed name in 2004. The Hornets will face the Bluebirds in Wales on October 7 and in Hertfordshire on February 3.

The Golden Boys have played Sunderland on the fewest occasions in the second-tier, going head-to-head only four times.

They will do battle for the fifth and sixth time on October 4 at the Stadium of Light and on April 27 in the penultimate match of the season at The Vic.

Opening Day Memories

9 - Watford have lost just one of their last 16 opening day fixtures, a 3-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in 2019. The Hornets have won nine of those games, stretching back to the 2007/08 campaign, including the most recent coming against Sheffield United last term – a 1-0 victory.

The opener at QPR is the first time the Hornets have had an away day to kick off a campaign since 2016. Watford played Southampton on the South Coast that day, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw after Étienne Capoue broke the deadlock.

Sync Your Calendar!

Click HERE to sync your online/mobile calendar with all Watford’s 2023/24 fixtures. Just select ‘Sky Bet Championship’ from the dropdown, and then ‘Watford’.

The calendar adjusts to your time zone and will automatically update throughout the season, so you’ll never miss a match!

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