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Welcome to the packed night of EFL and international football fixtures. Our focus includes important second-tier encounters plus the crucial final pool matches in the Africa Cup of Nations competition.

Preamble

Oh, hi folks. You are welcome to the checks writing desk rota the penultimate football live blog of 2025. There’s a full Football League schedule, starting with Coventry v Ipswich at 18:00, and we’ll also be keeping a close watch on both evening games from Group A at this Africa Cup of Nations: Morocco hosting Zambia as well as Comoros v Mali.

We'll be focussing on these fixtures, all 19:45 start times except where noted.

Africa Cup of Nations Fixtures

• The Coelacanths v Mali (7pm)
• Zambia v Morocco (7pm)

Championship

• Coventry versus The Tractor Boys (6pm)
• The Foxes v Derby
• Boro v The Tigers
• The Lions v Bristol City
• The Red Dragons v Preston

League One

• The Bluebirds v Stevenage

Recent Lineup Updates

Ipswich at Coventry Team News

The evening's opener, between the teams who are top and third in the Championship, looks like an exciting match. These are the starting elevens.

Coventry (4-2-3-1) Rushworth; van Ewijk, the centre-back, the defender, Brau; Torp, the captain; Sakamoto, Rudoni, the forward; the striker.

Substitutes: Wilson, Allen, Simms, the defender, the full-back, the defender, Eccles, the youngster, the player.

Ipswich (a 4-2-3-1 setup) The shot-stopper; Furlong, O’Shea, the defender, Greaves; Matusiwa, Taylor; Walle, Nunez, Jack Clarke; Azon.

Substitutes: The goalkeeper, the defender, the midfielder, the defender, the midfielder, Burns, McAteer, the attacker, Akpom.

The official Anthony Backhouse (from Cumbria).

Africa Cup of Nations: First Group Permutations

It's a tricky picture. That's often the case where only some third-place sides qualify. Here’s how things look ahead of tonight’s last round of games.

• The Atlas Lions 4pts, GD+2
• The Eagles 2 points, GD0 (with 2 goals for)
• The Copper Bullets 2pts, GD0 (with 1 goal for)
• The Coelacanths 1 point, -2 goal difference

Briefly, Morocco is likely safe though they will aim to defeat Zambia and win their pool. Zambia likely requires a draw or better versus Morocco. The island nation likely need to overcome Mali, who should advance with a point.

Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous.

Angola v Egypt Latest

The final act of the second group at the Africa Cup of Nations is being covered. For those wishing to remain unaware, don’t click the link.

Second Tier Table Overview

Pos	Team	P	GD	Pts
1	Coventry	23	31	51
2	Middlesbrough	23	9	43
3	Ipswich	23	15	38
4	Hull	23	2	38
5	Preston North End	23	7	37
6	Bristol City	23	7	36
7	Millwall	23	-6	36
8	Watford	23	4	35
9	QPR	23	-2	35
10	Stoke	23	7	34
11	Derby	23	1	32
12	Southampton	23	4	31
13	Wrexham	23	2	31
14	Leicester	23	-1	31
15	Birmingham	23	1	30
16	West Brom	23	-5	28
17	Charlton	22	-6	27
18	Blackburn	22	-4	26
19	Sheff Utd	23	-5	26
20	Swansea	23	-7	26
21	Oxford Utd	23	-8	22
22	Portsmouth	22	-10	22
23	Norwich	23	-9	21
24	Sheff Wed	22	-27	-8