Leeds United have a penalty after Daniel James is brought down in the box.

Image source, Rex Features

Leeds United hit the crossbar three times in the space of 90 seconds!

Willy Gnonto strikes the bar from close range before Ethan Ampadu then does the same from the resulting corner.

Seconds later Ilia Gruev hits the crossbar for the home side with a great free-kick.

The Whites banging on the door.

Open start in the Potteries.

Coventry centre-back Luis Binks picked up a VERY early booking for a foul on young Stoke forward Emre Tezgel.

Only one debutant in the Middlesbrough line-up, but it's a significant one.

United States midfielder Aidan Morris becomes the 1,000th player to represent the club. Boro will hope he can make a big contribution.

Technically, Luke Ayling is a new signing, but he spent the second half of last season on loan from Leeds and he's now captain.

Oxford United come close early on, Tyler Goodrham finds some space on the right and drills a pass across the box for Mark Harris who had an open net to aim for.

The ball runs through Harris's legs before the flag eventually does go up as he was just offside.

Louis Guidotti: Predicting a 2-0 win today for Millwall, my club COYL

The Lions are unbeaten on the opening day in the past six seasons.

Keep your opening Saturday interaction coming on X using #bbcefl.

Two teams in their traditional colours doing battle on the opening day - what is not to love?

Sunderland's red-and-white striped kit has a feel of their shirt from the early nineties, brilliant!

Chris Peddy
BBC Sport at The Den

Some beautiful tributes to Matija Sarkic before the game from Millwall, a quite overwhelmed family receiving the full support of the club and a very vocal support, who called "There's only one Mati Sarkic!"

There were tears in the crowd and applause in all corners of the stadium during a minute of appreciation before kick-off, and a very nice touch from the travelling fans bringing their own banner carrying the message "RIP Matija Sarkic".

Now the focus turns to the football on this highly emotional occasion.

We're under way in our eight Championship matches as our bumper opening Saturday EFL live text begins in earnest.

What thrills and spills await us?

Image source, Rex Features

Image source, Rex Features

How can we sum up the excitement of the new season?

Don't worry, it may be beyond our vocabulary, but not that of Mr EFL himself, Neil Warnock. Neil has crafted a poem to mark the occasion which he has posted on X, external.

THE NEW SEASON

I’ve been a manager for most of my life

But I’m going to the game today without any strife

It’s the start of the season and every fan wants to win

I’m here at Torquay, wishing the same and all the best for the Bryn

Football is back and how we have missed you so

Excitement, disappointment, VAR - that’s just a no go!

Enjoy the day whatever it brings, expectations are high

Support your team passionately, here’s hoping you fly!

The famous poets, Wilde, Wordsworth... Warnock?!

Two sides meet in south Wales for whom report cards from last season would read: 'can do better'.

Cardiff, 12th place was an improvement on the previous season, but fans in the Welsh capital are demanding and remember the fleeting Premier League years.

Sunderland ended up 16th as the campaign fell away following the departure of manager Tony Mowbray and the ill-fated brief reign of Michael Beale.

Now the reins have been handed to unknown Frenchman Regis le Bris. There is no new striker that everyone is crying out for but star player Jack Clarke is still at the Stadium of Light... for now.

There are lots of questions with both clubs, but three opening-day points would be most welcome.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Rex Features

Middlesbrough would probably fall in the category of dark horses when assessing the Championship's promotion contenders this season.

They were eighth last time, four points outside the play-offs, but a run of two points from the first seven games meant Michael Carrick's men were playing catch up from the off.

Remarkably, it is 10 years since Boro won their opening fixture. And they will demand three points from the visit of Swansea.

The Swans begin a first full season under Luke Williams. Their passing principles have been restored and they will be easy on the eye, but it feels a stretch to imagine them threatening the top six.

Image source, Rex Features

A seventh-placed finish last time out wasn't enough for Hull City's ambitious owner and boss Liam Rosenior was swiftly headed for the exit door.

German Tim Walter is the new man in the hot seat and he's overseen a summer of frustration, with the Tigers unable to add to their squad as they had hoped, while starmen Jacob Greaves and Jaden Philogene have both departed.

Bristol City are perennial midtable finishers at this level and boss Liam Manning will aim to have them improve on 11th in the standings from last time out.

QPR narrowly avoided relegation and West Brom were play-off semi-finalists last season, but in the crazy way football works, the mood ahead of the new campaign varies wildly.

For the Hoops, the transformation and escape under Marti Cifuentes was impressive and leads to the question - what can he do with a blank canvas?

They have brought in players from eight different countries, so getting everyone to gel will be Cifuentes' biggest challenge.

West Brom have faced financial headaches despite a change in ownership last February with head coach Carlos Corberan - a Spaniard like Cifuentes - having to rebuild and remould his squad.

But Corberan's intensity and work-ethic will ensure that the Baggies are competitive as they try to match last season's efforts.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Rex Features

Second tier football returns to Oxfordshire today after 25 years away.

The U's pulled off something of a surprise to beat Bolton in the League One play-off final in May and will hope to carry some of their end-of-season momentum into this new campaign.

It's been all-change at Norwich, with boss David Wagner sacked in the wake of their 4-0 hammering at Leeds in the play-off semi-finals.

New gaffer Johannes Hoff Thorup saw star midfielder Gabriel Sara leave for Galatasaray earlier this week and forward Jonathan Rowe, linked with a move to the Whites, is understood to have withdrawn from the squad this morning. Not ideal build-up for the Canaries.

Image source, Rex Features

It was another disappointing season for Stoke City last time out as they finished down in 17th.

However, the Potters did end the campaign with a flourish as they won their final three matches.

Since relegation from the Premier League in 2018-19 they have failed to secure a top six berth come the end of the season. Could this be the year they break that hoodoo?

Visitors Coventry will also be looking to challenge for the top six and they will hope striker Ellis Simms can show the form he produced from January onwards.

Former Huddersfield midfielder Jack Rudoni and ex-Peterborough forward Ephron Mason-Clark make their debuts.

Chris Peddy
BBC Sport at The Den

We're expecting the players out early here, in just a few moments' time as Matija Sarkic's family and both the team captains, Shaun Hutchinson and Moussa Sissoko, are expected to be part of the tributes.

The Millwall players head down the tunnel, we'll see them again very soon as The Den fills up for the season's curtain-raiser.

Image source, Rex Features

The EFL season got under way last night with games (and goals) across all three divisions.

In the Championship Blackburn beat newly-promoted Derby 4-2, with goals from subs Sammie Szmodics, Andreas Weimann and Yuki Ohashi helping them to a comfortable win.

Sheffield United's bid to make an immediate return to the Premier League got off to a great start as they eased to a 2-0 win at Preston.

In League One, promoted Mansfield held on to claim a 2-1 win at Barnsley and in League Two National League champions Chesterfield drew 1-1 with Swindon after Robins defender Will Wright scored a superb solo goal to level for the away side.

Chris Peddy
BBC Sport at The Den

There's excitement at The Den for a new season but that will be tinged with sadness as the club remembers their late former goalkeeper Matija Sarkic, who tragically died at the age of 26 this summer.

Sarkic may have only been with the club for a year but his performances ensured he built a strong connection with the fans, just as he did with his team-mates.

A tree has been planted in the Montenegro international's memory outside the players' entrance to the stadium, and there will be a programme of events before kick-off in his memory.

New signing Lukas Jensen, who joined from Lincoln City, starts in goal for the Lions today, while marquee striker Macauley Langstaff is on the bench, with Tom Bradshaw leading the line.

Shaun Hutchinson, who briefly left the club before signing a new deal weeks later, captains the side.

The returning Moussa Sissoko, who re-joined the club from Nantes, skippers Tom Cleverley's Watford.

Image source, Rex Features

Today's game at Elland Road sees the hosts welcome a team whose season finished a full 29 days before theirs.

While League One champions Portsmouth were able to reflect on a job very well done from 28 April, Leeds' season came to a far less satisfactory conclusion as they lost 1-0 to Southampton in the Championship play-off final on 26 May.

The Whites, who failed to go up automatically last season despite winning 90 points, are unsurprisingly favourites to go up this time out and will look to make a strong start today.

John Mousinho's Pompey, set for their first game at this level in 12 years, will be without striker Colby Bishop as he waits to undergo a heart operation after a routine pre-season scan revealed a "potential risk".

Fellow striker Kusini Yengi is out with a groin injury and former Newcastle man Matt Ritchie is named among the subs as he looks to make his second debut for his boyhood club.