Blackburn Rovers

Also written as Blackburn.

The club

Blackburn Rovers were founded in 1875 and have played at Ewood Park since 1890. The ground holds 31,367. They are known as Rovers, the Blue and Whites or the Riversiders, and play in blue and white halved shirts, blue on the left since 1946.

Recent seasons

Rovers have been a Championship club throughout. They finished 15th in 2020/21 and eighth in 2021/22. In 2022/23 they were seventh with 69 points from 20 wins, nine draws and 17 defeats. They fell to 19th in 2023/24 with 53 points, recovered to seventh again in 2024/25 with 66 points from 19 wins, nine draws and 18 defeats, then finished 20th in 2025/26 with 52 points from 13 wins, 13 draws and 20 defeats, scoring 42 and conceding 56. That was their eighth consecutive season in the second tier.

The 2025/26 campaign went through three managers. Valérien Ismaël left by mutual consent on 2 February 2026. Damien Johnson took interim charge, and Michael O'Neill was appointed head coach on 13 February 2026 on a short-term arrangement while remaining manager of Northern Ireland; he did not extend beyond that agreement and left on 12 May 2026. Rovers went out of the FA Cup in the third round and the EFL Cup in the first. Yuki Ohashi was top scorer with ten goals in all competitions. Ryoya Morishita was named player of the season on 2 May 2026, Balázs Tóth players' player, Tom Atcheson young player, and Adam Forshaw's goal against Stoke City goal of the season.

Honours and landmarks

Rovers are one of the few English clubs to have won the title in both the pre-war and Premier League eras. They were First Division champions in 1911/12 and 1913/14 and Premier League champions in 1994/95 under Kenny Dalglish, a title decided on the last day when Rovers lost at Anfield but still finished ahead of Manchester United. They have six FA Cups, from 1884, 1885, 1886, 1890, 1891 and 1928, five of them from the competition's first decade. The League Cup was won in 2001/02, beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, and the Full Members' Cup in 1987. They were Second Division champions in 1938/39 and Third Division champions in 1974/75, and have won promotion through the play-offs in 1992, 2001 and 2018.

Between the 1928 FA Cup and the 2002 League Cup, Rovers went nearly 70 years without a major trophy.

The record attendance is 62,255 against Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup sixth round on 2 March 1929. The record fee received is the £17m Chelsea paid for Damien Duff in July 2003.

Notable scorelines

The record victory is 11-0 against Rossendale United in the first round of the FA Cup on 13 October 1884, played at Leamington Road. The record league win is 9-0 against Middlesbrough at Ewood Park in Division Two on 6 November 1954. The record defeat is 0-8, suffered twice, against Arsenal in Division One on 25 February 1933 and against Lincoln City in Division Two on 29 August 1953. Rovers are also on the right side of one of Aston Villa's records: the 8-1 win at Villa in the FA Cup third round on 16 February 1889 remains Villa's heaviest FA Cup defeat.

Head-to-head notes

The East Lancashire derby against Burnley is the one fixture with a published all-time record. In major competitions it is Burnley 45 wins, Blackburn 41, with 22 draws from 108 meetings. Counting historic regional competitions as well, Burnley lead 71-65 with 34 draws from 170. The clubs last met on 4 January 2025 in the Championship at Ewood Park, Burnley winning 1-0. Burnley were relegated from the Premier League in 2025/26 and are in the Championship in 2026/27, so the derby returns to the league fixture list.

No published all-time record was established for any other 2026/27 Championship opponent, Preston North End included.

Right now (2026/27)

Tony Mowbray returned as head coach on 5 June 2026 on a long-term contract, a second spell in charge.

The transfer business has been modest. Moussa Baradji, a midfielder, joined from Yverdon Sport on 19 May 2026 for £2m. The forward Mathias Jørgensen had already arrived from Bodø/Glimt in January 2026. Jayden Fevrier, a winger, signed from Stockport County on 28 July 2026 for £500,000. Several academy players were added: Kajus Cepas, Chase Whiffing, Theo Chimpango, Finley Taylor, Tino Goremusandu and Yerime Ouattara. Ryan Hedges, Nathan Redmond and Sondre Tronstad were all released on 30 June. Max Davies went on loan to Southport on 17 July and Aodhan Doherty to Falkirk on 25 July.

Pre-season was encouraging after a season of struggle: 0-0 at Accrington Stanley on 11 July, 3-0 against Barnsley on 18 July, a 3-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on 22 July, 2-0 against Strasbourg on 25 July and 1-1 at Blackpool on 29 July, with Huddersfield Town away to follow on 1 August.

Rovers were drawn against Burton Albion of League One in the first round of the EFL Cup on 8 August 2026, having gone out at that stage last season. The Championship campaign opens away to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Friday 14 August 2026 at 20:00.

Sources

Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.