EFL make official decision for Coventry City v Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday v Cardiff City

International football will be put on ice until 2025 following the last break of the year, meaning the Championship returns to action this weekend. Both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday will be fighting for a big three points during their respective Saturday lunchtime fixtures.

Before the international break, the two sides locked horns at Bramall Lane for the Steel City Derby, which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Blades and their quest for promotion. Thanks to a second half goal from Tyrese Campbell, Chris Wilder’s side banked an important win putting them on 31 points, behind leaders Sunderland only on goal difference.

Wednesday are currently 15th with 18 points on the board and will host Cardiff City at Hillsborough in their next challenge. Meanwhile, United are on the road to take on Coventry City and the EFL has confirmed the officials taking charge of each fixture.

Coventry City vs Sheffield United referee

Darren Bond will take charge of Sheffield United’s visit to the Coventry Building Society Arena this weekend. He will be joined by assistant referees Darren Cann and Natalie Aspinall, alongside fourth official Ben Toner. Bond has officiated 20 United fixtures throughout his career so far and the last occasion came earlier this year when he took charge of their clash with Wolves back in February.

Ahead of this weekend’s game, David Prutton has backed Chris Wilder’s side to secure a comfortable win over Coventry, which could take the Blades to the top of the tree if results elsewhere go in their favour.

Sheffield Wednesday vs Cardiff City referee

Officiating Sheffield Wednesday’s next home clash will be Andrew Kitchen, supported by assistants Shaun Hudson and Carl Fitch-Jackson. Martin Coy will be the fourth official at Hillsborough. This weekend’s game will mark just the second time Kitchen has been in charge of a match featuring Wednesday. His first and only time prior to Saturday was back in 2022, when he oversaw a comfortable 3-0 Owls win over Morecambe in League One.

Cardiff City’s interim manager Omer Riza has prepared for a tough outing this weekend. Speaking to the club’s website, the Bluebirds boss said: “From where they were last year to where they are now, there’s a consistent element to the way they play,” he told the club’s official website. “It’s Sheffield Wednesday at the end of the day, it’s Hillsborough, it’s a tough game and it will be a difficult one for us.

“We’re preparing the way we normally do, we want to be creative, we want to cause the opposition problems and we’ve got to be defensively solid... We’ve been focusing on that this week and hopefully, we’ll approach the game with the right mindset and have a bit more energy and intensity to try to win the game.”