The 2026–27 season is Stoke City's 110th season in the Football League, the 50th in the second tier and ninth consecutive in the Championship.
Pre-season and friendlies Stoke City have a new club crest for the 2026–27 season based on the one used from 1977 to 1992, featuring a bottle kiln, Staffordshire knot, foundation year and red and white stripes. Stoke confirmed their retained list on 14 May, departing the club were veteran midfielders Lewis Baker and Steven Nzonzi whilst Milan Smit loan move was made permanent. On 22 May Stuart Harvey was appointed as the clubs new technical director. On 9 June, Arsenal U21 head coach Max Porter, was appointed as assistant manager.
Stoke played pre-season friendlies against Braga, Crewe Alexandra, Everton, Sheffield Wednesday and Valencia.
Championship
August For the first game of the season against Swansea City, Mark Robins gave debuts to new signings Ethan Galbraith, Luke Graham and Svante Ingelsson. Despite Eric Bocat giving Stoke an early lead, Swansea produced a comeback win with goals from Joseph Opoku and Adam Idah. The first away match of the campaign was at Southampton with new signings George Hirst and Ben Johnson starting. The Saints took an early lead through Larin before Ethan Galbraith scored his first goal for Stoke. Southampton won the game late on with goals from last season's loanee Divin Mubama and a penalty from Ryan Manning. Despite taking an early lead against midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stoke went on to lose 4–1.
September On transfer deadline day Stoke brought in left-back Luca Bombino, and midfielders Justin Devenny and Jack McGlynn, taking their net spend over the summer to over £30 million whilst Sorba Thomas moved on to Hull City for a 'significant' undisclosed fee. On the same day Stoke managed to claim their first win of the season, beating Norwich City 1–0. Four days later they claimed a comfortable 4–0 victory over Charlton Athletic with Devenny scoring twice on his debut whilst Hirst headed in his first goal for Stoke. Their away struggles continued at Cardiff City as after Ben Johnson had given Stoke the lead, Cardiff equalised though Joel Colwill and had a number of opportunities to score, hitting the post three times as Stoke hung on for a fortunate point. Stoke put a much better performance in their next away game at Watford ending their away game winless run with a 2–1 victory, new signing Jack McGlynn scoring his first goal for the club. They then came from a goal behind to beat Sheffield United 2–1 with a long range strike from McGlynn and a volley from Gallagher, moving Stoke up to seventh position going into the extended international break.
Matches
League table
FA Cup
Stoke will enter the 2026–27 FA Cup in the third round.
EFL Cup
Stoke beat EFL League Two side Oldham Athletic in the first round before losing on penalties to Premier League side Hull City in the second round.
Squad statistics
No.Pos.NameChampionshipFA CupEFL CupTotalDisciplineAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals1GK Viktor Johansson80001090002DF Ben Johnson71001081003DF Aaron Cresswell00000000004MF Ben Pearson0(2)000101(2)0005DF Luke Graham60002080206MF Svante Ingelsson1(1)000102(1)0017MF Jack McGlynn2(2)200002(2)2008MF Ethan Galbraith830020103409FW Róbert Boženík1(5)0001(1)22(6)20010MF Bae Jun-ho3(2)0000(1)03(3)02011FW Lamine Cissé2(2)000103(2)00013MF Justin Devenny420000421014MF Ato Ampah000000000015FW George Hirst5(2)1000(1)05(3)12016DF Ben Wilmot8000201001017DF Eric Bocat7(1)200108(1)21018MF Bosun Lawal40001(1)05(1)03019MF Tomáš Rigo1(2)000102(2)00020FW Sam Gallagher4(2)2001(1)05(3)22021DF Luca Bombino1(3)000001(3)00022DF Junior Tchamadeu0(1)000000(1)00023DF Ben Gibson100000100024GK Josh Griffiths000010100027MF Djibril Soumaré6(2)0000(2)06(4)01034GK Frank Fielding000000000040DF Maksym Talovierov3(3)0000(1)03(4)02042FW Million Manhoef2(2)000204(2)00052DF Freddie Anderson00000(1)00(1)00052DF Laurence Giani000010100058FW Tyler Martin0(1)000000(1)000Own goals—0—0—1—1—Players who featured but departed the club permanently during the season:7MF Sorba Thomas3000205010
Transfers
In DatePos.NameFromFee15 June 2026FW Milan Smit Go Ahead Eagles£4,800,00025 June 2026MF Djibril Soumaré Braga£3,400,00025 June 2026GK Josh Griffiths West Bromwich AlbionUndisclosed1 July 2026MF Ethan Galbraith Swansea City£10,000,0001 July 2026MF Svante Ingelsson Sheffield Wednesday £1,000,000 2 July 2026DF Luke Graham Dundee £2,000,000 28 July 2026 FW Paul Makavore Walsall Free MF George Morrison Fleetwood Town Undisclosed FW Jack Newall Burton Albion Free DF Will Thompson Nottingham Forest 20 August 2026 FW George Hirst Ipswich Town Undisclosed 1 September 2026 DF Luca Bombino San Diego £3,700,000 1 September 2026 MF Jack McGlynn Houston Dynamo Undisclosed 1 September 2026 MF Justin Devenny Crystal Palace Undisclosed 4 September 2026 FW Louie Bradbury Manchester United Undisclosed Total £24,900,000
Out DatePos.NameToFee 26 June 2026 DF Jake Griffin Chester Free transfer 27 June 2026 MF Darius Lipsiuc Notts County Undisclosed 30 June 2026 MF Lewis Baker Bursaspor Released MF Steven Nzonzi USL Dunkerque FW Kieron Willox Elgin City 7 July 2026 FW Nikola Jojić Start Mutual consent 16 August 2026 MF Tatsuki Seko Urawa Red Diamonds Undisclosed 1 September 2026 MF Sorba Thomas Hull City Undisclosed
Loans in Date fromPos.NameFromUntil 21 August 2026 DF Ben Johnson Ipswich Town End of Season
Loans out Date fromPos.NameToLoaned untilRef 25 June 2026 GK Tommy Simkin Doncaster Rovers End of Season 7 July 2026 DF Sydney Agina Forest Green Rovers 3 October 2026 14 July 2026 FW Nathan Lowe Hibernian End of Season 21 July 2026 GK True Grant FC Halifax Town 23 July 2026 FW Emre Tezgel Wycombe Wanderers 28 July 2026 FW Chinonso Chibueze South Shields 25 January 2027 30 July 2026 FW Favour Fawunmi Oldham Athletic End of Season 8 August 2026 MF Ruben Curley Morecambe 3 January 2027 14 August 2026 FW Milan Smit Darmstadt 98 End of Season 30 September 2026 MF Gabriel Kelly Tamworth 1 November 2026 3 October 2026 DF Sydney Agina
References