Hull City 2026/27 Season Preview

Hull City 2026/27 Season Preview

Where Did Hull City Finish Last Season?

This season marks exactly a decade since the Tigers tasted the bitter feeling of relegation from the top flight of English football, when then-manager Marco Silva was unable to keep a side featuring the likes of Harry Maguire, Andy Robertson and Jarrod Bowen from avoiding the trapdoor in their third Premier League campaign. After a shocking promotion from the EFL Championship last season, they will suddenly be contending with their fourth this season.

Despite winning just one of their final seven games of the second-tier season, The Tigers roared to life in the playoffs by knocking out Millwall, who had missed out on automatic promotion by just one point and were heavy favourites to win the playoffs, with a stunning 2-0 decider at The Den after a goal-less first leg.

The playoff final itself was one of incredible drama. Middlesbrough had been defeated by Southampton in the semi-final, but the Saints were kicked out following the 'SpyGate' scandal surrounding the two clubs and the Teesiders were re-instated to the final, despite losing the semi. However, they would spurn this golden second chance at the hands of Hull, who put on an inspired defensive display at Wembley before a 95th-minute winner from Oli McBurnie sent them back to the Premier League against all the odds.

Oli Mcburnie on THAT Play Off Final goal🗣️

“I've never scored a goal where I'm celebrating in front of the opposition fans and I'm not getting absolute pelters and hate, w*nker signs and fingers up.

All I could see was this genuine heartbreak and disappointment, the life go out… pic.twitter.com/ldIdpFW8Hw

— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) July 26, 2026

This was a team that had been in League One just five short years ago after a terrible run post-Premier League relegation. On top of that, the season prior, they had avoided going back down to the third tier by the skin of their teeth and spent the summer and winter of this campaign able only to sign free agents and fee-less loans, due to a transfer embargo. Despite that, they stayed plucky and got an incredible result to put them back in the big time.

Now free of embargoes and full of optimism, Hull City are the absolute favourites to be relegated from the Premier League this season. However, if Sunderland are anything to go by, there is nothing to say that the plucky Tigers will not shock us all again... with some maulings along the way.

Best Result: Preston 0-3 Hull City (Millar 33’, Famewo 45’, McBurnie 49’).

Worst Result: Hull City 1-4 Middlesbrough (Strelec 9’, Gilbert 32’, Whittaker 35’, McGree 44'; Gelhardt 62').

Who Have Hull City Signed in the Summer Transfer Window So Far?

Incoming

Tim Iroegbunam from Everton - £22 Million

Nobel Mendy from Rayo Vallecano - £21.3 Million

Ilyas Ansah from Union Berlin - £20.5 Million

Konstantinos Tzolakis from Olympiakios - £20 Million

Lucas Herrington from Colorado Rapids - £17.1 Million

Christos Mouzakitis from Olympiakos - £13 Million

Mohamed Ali-Cho from OGC Nice - £13 Million

Brooke Norton-Cuffy from Genoa - £12 Million

Jens Hjerto-Dahl from Tromso - £8.1 Million

Jack Butland from Rangers - £3 Million

Elliot Stroud from Mjallby AIF - £2.2 Million

Oscar Zambrano from NK Maribor - Undisclosed

Sorba Thomas from Stoke City - Undisclosed

Matt Targett - Free Transfer

Ben Robinson from Preston North End - Free Transfer

Hidemasa Morita from Sporting Lisbon - Free Transfer

Robinio Vaz from AS Roma - Season-Long Loan with Buy Option

Total Spent: 152.2 Million

Outgoing

Ivor Pandur to Rangers - £6 Million

Kyle Joseph to Middlesbrough - £4 Million

Cody Drameh to Genoa - £3.4 Million

Abu Kamara to Portsmouth - £2.5 Million

Akin Famewo to Bolton Wanderers - £500'000

Kasey Palmer to Luton Town - £495'000

Aidon Shehu to Panathinaikos - Undisclosed

Enis Destan to Konyaspor - Undisclosed

Harry Vaughan to Bohemians - Free Transfer

Mason Burstow to Sheffield Wednesday - Season-Long Loan

Liam Miller to Birmingham City - Season-Long Loan

Harvey Cartwright to Grimsby Town - Season-Long Loan

Nathan Tinsdale to Crawley Town - Season-Long Loan

James Debayo to Swindon Town - Season-Long Loan

Brandon Williams - Released

Total Received: £16.89 Million

Hull City 2026/27 Squad List

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland, Dillon Phillips, Konstantinos Tzolakis

Defenders: Lewie Coyle, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Charlie Hughes, Nobel Mendy, Semi Ajayi, John Egan, Lucas Herrington, Paddy McNair, Cathal McCarthy, Ryan Giles, Matty Jacob, Matt Targett

Midfielders: Hidemasa Morita, Eliot Matazo, Oscar Zambrano, Matt Crooks, Regan Slater, Tim Iroegbunam, Jens Hjerto-Dahl, Christos Mouzakitis, Elliot Stroud, Darko Gyabi, Kieran Dowell, Abdulkadir Omur, Mohamed Belloumi, Babajide David

Attackers: Oli McBurnie, Ilyas Ansah, Mohamed Ali-Cho, Robinio Vaz, Sorba Thomas

Hull City 2026/27 Home, Away and Third Kits

Home Kit

Hull City reveal their 26/27 Premier League home kit with new technical partner @oxensportsuk 🐯 pic.twitter.com/5vFgJh16e7

— Opaleak (@opaleak) June 10, 2026

Away Kit

😊 I’d be pretty happy with @oxensportsuk as my clubs kit partner, would you?!

(New Hull City home & away) pic.twitter.com/Iuqf7rv9EY

— 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙆𝙄𝙏𝙎𝙈𝘼𝙉 (@The_Kitsman) July 23, 2026

Third Kit

Hull City have not revealed their third kit yet.

What is Hull City’s Opening Premier League Fixture?

Hull City vs Manchester United | MKM Stadium, Hull | Saturday, August 22nd, 12:30

How Can I Watch Hull City vs Manchester United?

As this game falls outside of the Saturday 3pm blackout period in the UK, you will be available to watch it on British programming. TNT Sports hold the rights to this fixture live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate with kickoff at 12:30 on Saturday, August 22nd 2026. This game will be the second overall game of the Premier League season, with Arsenal starting their Premier League title defence on Friday Night Football against Coventry City.

What Are Hull City’s First Five Fixtures?

• Hull City vs Manchester United – Saturday, August 22nd.

• Coventry City vs Hull City - Saturday, August 29th.

• Hull City vs Aston Villa – Saturday, September 5th.

• Chelsea vs Hull City – Saturday, September 12th.

• Newcastle United vs Hull City – Saturday, September 19th.

When Do Hull City Play Rivals Leeds in 2026/27?

• Hull City vs Leeds United | MKM Stadium, Hull | Wednesday, December 30th

• Leeds United vs Hull City | Elland Road, Leeds | Wednesday, March 3rd 2027

Last Five Meetings:

• 04/01/25: Hull 3-3 Leeds (EFL Championship)

• 31/08/24: Leeds 2-0 Hull (EFL Championship)

• 01/04/24: Leeds 3-1 Hull (EFL Championship)

• 20/09/23: Hull 0-0 Leeds (EFL Championship)

• 16/09/20: Leeds 1-1 Hull (Hull W 9-8 on Penalties) (League Cup)

Who is Brentford’s Manager for the 2025/26 Season?

Sergej Jakirovic

Appointed from Turkish club Kayserispor in the summer of 2025, Sergej Jakirovic worked wonders with a tough job in the North.

He inherited a Hull City side that had flirted with the playoffs under Liam Rosenior not too long ago but had faded away massively in the season just gone by. With relegation worries coming around again and a transfer embargo to boot, the Bosnian gaffer had his work cut out but managed to do the opposite of what people feared - he didn't keep Hull in the Championship, but instead took them into the Premier League.

“I came here to keep Hull in the Championship.

“I failed.”

Sergey Jakirovic 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/p7eze3mYFU

— Second Tier podcast (@secondtierpod) May 26, 2026

He oversaw shrewd additions with the lack of any fiscal backing thanks to the embargo, such as the coveted captures of Oli McBurnie and the loan of Joe Gelhardt, and transformed the team into one that was incredibly well-drilled and hard to beat. With the excellent 17 goal, seven assist haul of McBurnie in play, as well as his late, late Wembley winner, Jakirovic did an incredible job to take Hull City up.

The big ask, of course, is can he do it in the top flight?

Who is Hull City’s Player to Watch?

Oli McBurnie

Controversial and outspoken, or a breath of fresh air in the media-trained landscape of PR-driven footballers? That's for you to decide, but what you cannot deny is how well Oli McBurnie has done in a Hull City shirt.

A promising youngster at Swansea, an expensive signing alleged as a flop at Sheffield United and a surprise revelation in Spain with Las Palmas, McBurnie arrived in Hull on a free transfer that caught the eye of many in the league. He had goals in him at this level, netting 13 in his last Championship season with the Blades. With 17 with Hull last season, the version of McBurnie we see now may be his best one yet.

Though shockingly snubbed of a spot in Scotland's 2026 World Cup squad, McBurnie returns for his sixth Premier League season in the form of his life. He has earned the trust of Jakirovic, who clearly knows how to get the best out of him, and the physical elements and wind-up-merchant abilities of McBurnie may make him a crucial element to Hull's chances this season.

Hull City 2026/27 Season Prediction

Is this harsh? Perhaps, but we had to give it to somebody, and we can't quite see anyone with a more likely chance of footing the table than Hull City this season, unfortunately.

Though Leeds United and Sunderland managed to break the cycle of all three promoted clubs going straight back down, as had been the case in prior campaigns, Hull do not yet strike us as a team that will do so as well.

Sunderland's big boost was not the sheer volume of signings they made, but how granular their selection process was in terms of profiles and what would help them the most. Hull are aiming for the latter, it seems, particularly with the eye-catching captures of Hjerto-Dahl and Stroud, but their promotion was one that came out of the blue, and potentially too early.

We think they go down this season, but this isn't necessarily the end of the world if they do. They will come down with far more money, a much better squad and a real chance of coming straight back up afterwards, from which point on they may stay around a little longer than they did in the yo-yo years of the past.

But this season, however, is more than certain to end in relegation for The Tigers.

Football Park’s Prediction: 20th.