South Coast Derby: When Portsmouth and Southampton find out when they play each other in next season's Championship

But the 2025-26 season will see the highly-charged game return to both clubs’ schedules, with the fiercely-contested match-up now set in stone for next term’s Championship.

The Blues’ 1-0 home win over Watford on Bank Holiday Monday, following their 5-3 victory over Norwich at Carrow Road on Good Friday, guaranteed their second-tier status for another season.

That impressive feat - after going up as League One champions the season before - also comes the same month that Southampton’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed.

Indeed, on April 6 the St Mary’s side picked up the unenviable record of the earliest demotion from the Prem, with a 3-1 defeat to Spurs ensuring they would be heading back to the Championship after just one season and with their tail between their legs.

Two weeks on from that embarrassing realisation, Southampton have already sacked their second manager of the season, Ivan Juric, after just 107 days in charge.

Under interim boss Simon Rusk, they also remain bottom of the table, with another unwelcome record possibly heading their way - the joint-lowest points total recorded by a Premier League side in a season. Currently sitting on 11 points with five games remaining, they could potentially return to the second tier with the same paltry tally that got Derby relegated in 2007-08 - also 11.

While Pompey are poised to embark on an exciting summer that should see John Mousinho handed the tools to build on a thrilling season back in the Championship, the same cannot be said for that lot up the road.

A third manager in less than a year will need to be found, while the Saints will likely lose some of their prized assets and be forced into a rebuild as they exit the Premier League and adjust to life as a second-tier club once more.

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It’s hardly a scenario they’ll be relishing as the reality of their plight hits home over the coming weeks and months. And it’s a reality that will come to the fore even more when the Championship fixtures are released.

Back in May 2017, when Pompey were lifting the League Two title under Paul Cook, Southampton finished eighth in the top flight - a season that also brought with it European football.

Sixty-one places separated the two clubs back then. Now, eight years on they’ll approach the 2025-26 season as Championship equals and with the same divisional aspirations.

That’s sure to add an extra bit of spice to next term’s proceedings, with both sets of fans set to learn the date of the two derby dates at 9am on Thursday, June 26.

The 2025-26 Championship season kicks off on Friday, August 8.

Pompey v Southampton in 21st century

Only nine south coast derbies have been played this century, with just six of those being league fixtures.

The last league meeting between the two sides came on April 7, 2012, when David Norris’ last-gasp volley earned the Blues a 2-2 draw in a Championship thriller at St Mary’s.

Earlier that season, both sides played out a 1-1 draw at PO4, with Joel Ward’s 84th-minute effort cancelling out Rickie Lambert’s 63rd-minute opener.

Pompey’s last league win over Southampton came on April 24, 2005, when they thrashed their Fratton Park visitors 4-1 in the Premiership. Four first-half goals from Yakubu, Arjan De Zeeuw and Lomano LuaLua (2) put Alain Perrin’s side in complete control, despite Henri Camara also finding the back of the net in a pulsating game that saw Harry Redknapp take his place in the opposition dugout.

That season the Blues finished 16th in the table, while Southampton finished rock bottom and they were relegated.

The last South Coast Derby was a League Cup game played at Fratton Park in September 2019 - a game the Blues lost 4-0.

Pompey’s 21st century record against Southampton reads: P9 W3 L4 D2.

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