Swansea City

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Melker Widell and Zeidane Inoussa were among the players who reported to Swansea City's training base on Monday as Alan Sheehan's squad began preparations for the new Championship season.

Swedish duo Widell (below) and Inoussa (above) were joined at Fairwood, Swansea's training ground, by fellow new recruits Ricardo Santos and Bobby Wales.

But centre-back Cameron Burgess, who joined from Ipswich Town earlier this month, has been given extra time off because he has been in international action with Australia over the summer.

Burgess is set to arrive at Swansea at the end of the week alongside Wales trio Ollie Cooper, Liam Cullen and captain Ben Cabango, who are also returning to club duty a little late because of international commitments.

As well as the new signings, there are some familiar faces who are back with the Swansea squad after loan spells away last season.

Among those is striker Jerry Yates, who spent the last campaign at Derby County, as well as the likes of goalkeeper Andy Fisher and attacking midfielders Cameron Congreve and Joel Cotterill.

Swansea begin the new second-tier season with a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday, 3 August.

Their first official pre-season friendly will be against League One Stevenage in Spain on Saturday, 19 July.

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Swansea City will host League Two Crawley Town in the first round of the EFL Cup, with the tie to be played in the week beginning 11 August.

The two clubs have met only once before, when Garry Monk scored a last-minute goal to give the then Premier League Swans a League Cup victory at Crawley in September 2012.

Five months later, Swansea thumped Bradford City at Wembley to win the EFL Cup - the only major trophy in the club's history.

Alan Sheehan's side will hope for another triumph over Crawley in what will be their opening home game of 2025-26, with Swansea heading to Middlesbrough for their first Championship fixture of the new campaign on Saturday, 9 August.

Crawley will play in the fourth tier next season having been relegated from League One in 2024-25.

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Swansea City will start the 2025-26 Championship season away to Middlesbrough on Saturday, 9 August.

It will be the second successive season which Swansea have opened up with a trip to Riverside, with last year's long trip north ending in a 1-0 defeat.

The first home league match for Alan Sheehan's side in 2025-26 will take place on Saturday, 16 August against Sheffield United, who missed out on promotion in the play-offs last season.

The Swans will host Welsh rivals Wrexham on Saturday, 20 December in what will be the first league match between the two clubs in 22 years, while the return fixture in north Wales will take place on Saturday, 14 March, 2026.

Swansea fans will be on the road over the Christmas period with a trip to Coventry City on 26 December and then a game at Oxford United three days later.

The Swans will end the league campaign on Saturday, 2 May at home to Charlton Athletic, who are managed by Welshman Nathan Jones.

• Follow this link for Swansea City's full 2025-26 fixture list.

*Dates and kick-off times will be subject to change.

Your club will soon discover their schedule for the upcoming EFL season. As soon as Thursday, in fact.

Want to know who your side will face on opening day? The EFL fixtures will be announced at 12:00 BST - but that's not all.

The day will be rounded off by the first round of Carabao Cup being drawn at 16:30 BST.

So check back on 26 June to see who your team faces first, last and everything in between.

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Martin Paterson's spell at Swansea City did not last as long as he would have liked, but Michael Duff's former assistant has just landed his second managerial role since leaving Wales.

Paterson, 38, moved to Wales to work alongside Duff in the summer of 2023 having previously been on his staff at Barnsley.

But the ex-Northern Ireland striker left Swansea alongside Duff less than six months later.

He resurfaced later that season as boss at Burton Albion, helping them remain in League One, and has now agreed to take over at League Two Notts County.

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Swansea City goalkeeper Kit Margetson will spend the 2025-26 season on loan at Cymru Premier club Connah's Quay Nomads.

Margetson, who turns 19 next month, was on the fringes of Swansea's senior squad at the end of last season.

The Wales youth international signed his first professional deal at Swansea in the summer of 2024.

He is the son of Swansea and Wales goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson.

Andy Fisher and Nathan Broome are both due back at Swansea this summer after loan spells away, adding to the club's keeper options alongside first-choice Lawrence Vigouroux.

"I know that Kit turned down a number of other opportunities to come and play for ourselves and as club we are grateful for Swansea City, especially director of football Richard Montague and Martyn Margetson, for facilitating the move," said Nomads boss John Disney.

"Hopefully the club can utilise this to help form a close relationship moving forwards."

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Swansea City will host French top-flight side Lorient in their final dress rehearsal for the new Championship season.

Alan Sheehan's side will face last season's Ligue 2 champions at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday, 2 August (15:00 BST).

The Brittany-based club had been relegated in 2023-24, but return to Ligue 1 at the first time of asking.

Lorient's visit completes Swansea's pre-season programme.

The will also face League One Stevenage in Spain on 19 July and then travel to League Two side Cheltenham Town on Wednesday, 23 July.

They also visit another third-tier club, Exeter City, on July 26.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

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The latest summer of change at Swansea City continues after three player departures in a matter of days.

The first exit was not one Swansea wanted, with Harry Darling turning down the offer of a new contract in south Wales in favour of a three-year deal at Norwich City.

Swansea have lost one of their most consistent performers last season for nothing which, as director of football Richard Montague noted recently, is not ideal from the club's point of view.

Could Swansea have done more to keep Darling? Certainly, they appear to have tried everything possible this spring, with the former MK Dons defender eventually offered a lucrative contract.

Who knows, if that offer had been tabled a year ago, Darling might still be at Swansea and under contract for at least a couple more seasons.

But in the end, perhaps, Darling's head had been turned.

While Darling will line up for the Canaries next season, his replacement at Swansea is already in place in the shape of Cameron Burgess.

At 29, he arrives from Ipswich Town with little re-sale value, but looks a fine acquisition nevertheless.

This week's other departures have caused less of a stir.

After two seasons as a Swansea player – one of which was spent on loan at former club Hibernian - Mykola Kuharevich has left for Slovan Bratislava on a permanent deal.

Swansea say they have received a fee for Kuharevich, the size of which has not been disclosed.

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But it is safe to assume they have made a significant loss on a player who arrived from Troyes in 2023 in a deal believed to be worth close to £1m.

Kuharevich managed 10 Championship substitute appearances for Swansea, scoring one goal.

Nathan Tjoe-A-On, the other man who said farewell this week, had an even more limited impact, playing a grand total of two minutes of league football in a Swans shirt.

Swansea are understood to have paid about £300,000 for Tjoe-A-On who, like Kuharevich, goes down as one of various failed signings made in the summer of 2023.

The truth is that Tjoe-A-On's exit may not have a huge impact on Alan Sheehan's plans for 2025-26 given that he was already a fringe figure.

Kuharevich's move looks more significant given that it clears a space in the attacking department within Sheehan's squad - and probably cuts a larger slice off the club's wage bill.

The next big question is whether Jerry Yates, another forward who was out on loan last season, will follow Kuharevich through the exit door or come back into the fold.

For now, the noises are that Yates is more likely to go than stay.

Should Yates leave once more, Swansea will very definitely have a vacancy in the striker department – and more finances to work with as they look to fill it.

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With no south Wales derby to look forward to after Cardiff City's relegation to League One, Swansea fans can instead look forward to a potential encounter between the clubs' under-21s sides.

Swansea and Bluebirds' junior teams have won wildcard entries to Welsh domestic football's 2025-26 Nathaniel MG Cup for a third successive season.

The Cymru Premier's dominant force, The New Saints, are reigning holders of the Welsh League Cup.

Swansea's youngsters went out in the first round last July, losing 5-3 in a penalty shootout at Baglan Dragons.

The draw for the 2025-26 first round takes places on Wednesday, 25 June and Swansea will be hoping to go significantly further this time around.