Doncaster Rovers

Also written as Doncaster.

The club

Doncaster Rovers were founded in 1879 and play in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. They joined the Midland League in 1891 and were first elected to the Football League in 1901. Since 2007 they have played at the ground on Stadium Way, Lakeside, which opened on 3 August 2007 and holds 15,231. Its name has changed three times: Keepmoat Stadium from November 2006, Eco-Power Stadium from December 2021, and Club Doncaster Sports Village from 30 June 2026, so anything written this season should use the new name. The club are known as Donny, the supporters as the Red and White Army. They play in red and white hoops, a scheme used in some form since 1885.

Recent seasons

Rovers finished 14th in League One in 2020/21, then were relegated in 2021/22, finishing 22nd with 38 points from 10 wins, 8 draws and 28 defeats. Three seasons in League Two followed: 18th with 55 points in 2022/23; fifth with 71 points in 2023/24, losing the play-off semi-final to Crewe Alexandra on penalties after the tie finished level; and the title in 2024/25 with 84 points from 24 wins, 12 draws and 10 defeats, going up alongside Port Vale, Bradford City and AFC Wimbledon. Back in League One in 2025/26 they finished 14th with 60 points, 17 wins, 9 draws and 20 defeats, scoring 50 and conceding 69. This is their second consecutive season at this level.

Honours and landmarks

Rovers have won the third tier four times: Third Division North in 1934/35, 1946/47 and 1949/50, and League One in 2012/13. They have won the fourth tier four times: Fourth Division in 1965/66 and 1968/69, Third Division in 2003/04, and League Two in 2024/25. They won the Football League Trophy in 2006/07, beating Bristol Rovers 3-2 after extra time at the Millennium Stadium on 1 April 2007 before 59,024, Graeme Lee scoring in the 110th minute after Jonathan Forte and Paul Heffernan had them 2-0 up inside five minutes. They won the League One play-off final at Wembley on 25 May 2008, beating Leeds United 1-0 before 75,132 through a James Hayter header. Before that came five seasons out of the Football League: relegated to the Conference in 1998, they won the Conference play-off in 2003 and the Conference League Cup in 1998/99 and 1999/2000. Their best-ever league finish is seventh in Division Two in 1901/02.

Record attendance at Belle Vue is 37,149 against Hull City in Division Three North on 2 October 1948; the main club article gives 37,099 and dates it 1947, but the club records page figure is the one to use. Record attendance at the current ground is 15,001 against Leeds United on 1 April 2008. James Coppinger holds the appearance record with 688, 607 of them league games. Tom Keetley scored 186 goals between 1923 and 1929. The record fee paid is £1,150,000 to Sheffield United for Billy Sharp; the record received £2,000,000 from Reading for Matthew Mills. Best points total is 92 in Division Three in 2003/04; most goals in a season 123 in Division Three North in 1946/47.

Notable scorelines

Record win: 10-0 against Darlington in Division Four on 25 January 1964. Record cup win: 7-0, first against Blyth Spartans in the FA Cup first round on 27 November 1937 and equalled against Chorley in an FA Cup first round replay on 20 November 2018. Record defeat: 0-12 against Small Heath in Division Two on 11 April 1903. The oddest entry in the record book involves this season's first opponents: the longest senior match on record in England, 203 minutes against Stockport County on 30 March 1946, a Third Division North Cup tie that ended goalless when it got too dark to continue.

Head-to-head notes

All-time head-to-head totals could not be established: the club's own website returned truncated content to automated requests, and 11v11 and Soccerbase both refused the fetch. No published all-time record is quoted here for any opponent. What is verified are recent meetings. Rovers lost the EFL Trophy semi-final 1-0 at home to Stockport County on 3 March 2026, which is the most recent meeting before the Carabao Cup tie at Edgeley Park. They beat Bradford City 3-1 at home in the EFL Trophy group stage on 11 November 2025, and knocked Huddersfield Town out of the same competition on 10 February 2026, drawing 0-0 away and winning the shootout 2-0. League meetings from 2025/26 against the fifteen clubs who are again in League One this season were not individually established. Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United, Notts County, Milton Keynes Dons, Bromley and Cambridge United were all in different divisions last season, so there are no 2025/26 results against them.

Right now (2026/27)

Grant McCann is the manager, in his second spell, appointed in May 2023; this is his fourth full season. He took the club up as League Two champions in 2024/25 and kept them clear of trouble in League One last year.

Four free transfers arrived on 1 July 2026: winger Leon Ayinde from Ipswich Town, centre-back Neill Byrne from Bradford City, left-back James Husband from Blackpool and forward Francis Okoronkwo from Everton. Midfielder Isaac Hutchinson signed from Bristol Rovers for an undisclosed fee on 20 July, and winger Jordan Thomas joined on a free from Cheltenham Town on 28 July. Two loans are in place for the season, striker Alfie May from Huddersfield Town and goalkeeper Tommy Simkin from Stoke City. Going the other way on 28 July were centre-back Will Flint to Halifax Town and winger Luke Molyneux to Salford City, both for undisclosed fees. Centre-back Bobby Faulkner is on a season-long loan at Tranmere Rovers with a mid-season recall clause.

Pre-season took in a tour of Ireland: 4-2 at St Patrick's Athletic on 14 July, 5-0 at Glenavon on 16 July, 2-0 at Linfield on 18 July, then a 2-2 draw at Harrogate Town and a goalless draw at Gainsborough Trinity on 25 July, and a 2-0 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on 29 July. A final friendly against Lincoln City was scheduled for 1 August.

The competitive season starts with the EFL Cup first round away to Stockport County on Saturday 8 August 2026 at 3pm. The League One campaign opens away at Mansfield Town on 15 August, with Barnsley at home on 22 August in a 12:30 kick-off for Sky. In the EFL Trophy they are in Northern Group H with Huddersfield Town, Rochdale and Liverpool under-21s. Last season's cup form is worth noting: they won 4-0 at Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup first round on 12 August 2025 and 2-0 at Accrington Stanley in the second, before losing 3-0 at Tottenham Hotspur in the third round on 24 September 2025.

Sources

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