National League 2026/27 fixtures released as Harrogate and Barrow prepare for fifth-tier return

The 2026/27 National League fixture list was released on Friday at 11am UK time, confirming the schedule for all 24 clubs competing in English football’s fifth tier. The regular season opens on Saturday, August 8, with each side playing 46 matches — home and away against every other club — before the campaign concludes on Saturday, April 24, 2027.

Harrogate Town and Barrow drop into the division after both suffered relegation from League Two last season. The two clubs will be among the favourites to challenge for an immediate return to the English Football League.

York City are absent from the fixture list after being crowned the 2025/26 National League champions, earning automatic promotion to League Two. Rochdale also depart the division having secured the second promotion spot via the play-offs, defeating Boreham Wood on penalties in the play-off final.

Their exits create space for the newly relegated sides and any promoted clubs to mount serious promotion challenges across the 46-game grind. Following the final regular-season matchday on April 24, 2027, the play-offs will begin to determine which team claims the second automatic promotion berth’s alternative route into League Two.