Rochdale are back in the Football League after three seasons away, and their first match back kicks off at Tranmere Rovers on Saturday, 1 August at 15:00 BST. For a club that spent over a century as a steady EFL presence, the exile was long. The return was anything but straightforward.

Rochdale's path back came through the National League play-offs, England's fifth-tier knockout system that offers a second promotion route alongside the automatic top spot. They beat Scunthorpe United over two legs to reach the promotion final at Wembley, where Boreham Wood stood between them and a place back in the EFL — the collective name for English football's top four professional divisions below the Premier League.

The final was a thriller. Matt Rush and Abdul Abdulmalik scored to put Boreham Wood 2-0 up, and with 13 minutes of normal time remaining, Rochdale's hopes looked slim. Then Tyler Smith pulled one back. Deep into seven minutes of stoppage time — the added period that accounts for time lost to injuries and stoppages — Dieseruvwe found the equaliser. Extra time, the additional 30 minutes played when a knockout match is level after 90, produced no further goals. Rochdale won 3-1 on penalties, with 18-year-old on-loan Manchester City goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff making two crucial saves to settle it (BBC Sport).

For a teenager on loan from one of the world's biggest clubs to decide a Wembley final is the kind of story football writes better than any scriptwriter.

But the manager who led Rochdale to promotion, Jimmy McNulty, did not stay to lead the return. He left for Stockport County, who had just come up short as League One play-off finalists — the third tier's own knockout route to promotion. In his place came Ian Watson, recruited from South Shields, a club that plays in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football. Watson now has a matter of weeks, not months, to shape a squad for a higher level. His first competitive test is Saturday at Prenton Park.

Rochdale are not the only promoted club refreshing the dugout. York City, who also climbed back into the EFL this summer, made a managerial change of their own. York's season begins even sooner: they face Crawley Town in the Carabao Cup Preliminary Round on Monday, 3 August 2026 (EFL). The Carabao Cup, the EFL's main knockout cup competition, stages its Preliminary Round before the bigger clubs enter in Round One, scheduled for the weekend of 7–9 August. The tournament rolls on from there: Round Two in the week commencing 24 August, Round Three split across the weeks of 7 and 14 September, and Round Four in the week of 26 October (EFL).

For fans of clubs like Rochdale and York, the fixture list has a different texture this August. The promotion parties are over. The real work, against familiar EFL opposition and under new management, starts now.