Worthing to visit Carlisle in National League bow
Promoted Worthing will visit Carlisle United in the first National League game in their history.
Newly-promoted Worthing will travel to Carlisle United in the first National League game in their history on the opening weekend of the season on Saturday, 8 August.
The Rebels will be playing fifth-tier football for the first time in the 2026-27 campaign after winning the National League South title last season.
It will be a second season in the division since relegation from League Two for the Cumbrians, who have appointed former Gateshead boss Rob Elliot to replace Mark Hughes as head coach.
Elsewhere, National League South play-off winners Hornchurch, who are also in the fifth tier for the first time , host National League North play-off winners Kidderminster Harriers.
Beaten National League play-off finalists Boreham Wood welcome Tamworth, while Robbie Savage's Forest Green Rovers start at home to Halifax Town.
Harrogate Town and Barrow, who were both relegated from League Two last season after six years each in the EFL, will host Solihull Moors and visit Hartlepool United respectively.
National League North champions AFC Fylde will host Wealdstone.
The regular season will end on Saturday, 24 April, with teams finishing between second and seventh to contest the play-offs, culminating in the second promotion spot being decided in the play-off final at Wembley on the weekend of 8 May.
All of the two opening rounds of fixtures will be televised on streaming network DAZN, with the traditional 15:00 TV blackout not in force on those weekends.
Not in 145 years since the original Hornchurch Football Club was founded, nor since its reformation in 2005, have they played in the fifth tier of English football.
For Worthing, the 140-year wait to reach the top rung of the non-league ladder is over and the reward is a 720-mile round trip to play in front of up to 17,000 fans at Brunton Park.
The average attendance in National League South last season was about 1,300.
Hornchurch were playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division in 2023-24 but two promotions in three seasons under manager Daryl McMahon have propelled them into new territory.
Worthing's journey is not too dissimilar, rising from the eighth tier in 2016 right through to the National League.
Hornchurch will visit Carlisle in matchweek three on 22 August - the two clubs were separated by four tiers in the pyramid just three seasons ago.
They welcome the Cumbrians to the Hornchurch Stadium - the smallest ground in the division with a capacity of 3,500 - for the reverse fixture on 27 February, 2027.
Among Hornchurch's coaching staff in the new campaign will be former West Ham United defender Anton Ferdinand after the 41-year-old joined the club in June.
