City begin their 2025/26 Sky Bet League One campaign against Reading on Saturday 2 August (3pm KO).
The LNER Stadium will play host to City’s opening round of the league season for the first time since 2022 with the Royals making the trip to Lincoln.
Michael Skubala’s side had a positive end to their pre-season campaign last weekend, coming out on top against Sky Bet Championship side West Bromwich Albion, in a 4-2 victory at the LNER Stadium. Jovon Makama put City two goals ahead inside three minutes with strikes from Ryley Towler and Jack Moylan coming in the second-half.
Michael Skubala’s thoughts:
“Everyone at the football club is really excited and raring to go. You can have a pre-season, but there is nothing like the real thing, we’re really looking forward to getting back to the LNER Stadium in front of a big crowd.
“It will be a really competitive division again this year. Reading have done some astute business in the summer and strengthened areas they struggled with last year, they are a big club and will want to be pushing towards the top end.
“Having said that, when they come to our place, we want to give them a good game, I know that if we’re ‘us’ we can get something out of it.”
Tendayi Darikwa:
"We’ve worked really hard during pre-season and the start is finally here. We’re looking to start the campaign with a positive result.
“It’s going to be special, when I was named skipper I said how much of an honour it was for me to captain the football club, hopefully I can do my best and the team can be successful.
“It’s always nice to play at home in front of our fans, they’ll back us as they have since I’ve been at the club. Hopefully we can have a good day together on Saturday.”
Opposition information:
Reading come in to the 2025/26 campaign under new ownership with Redwood Holdings Limited led by Rob Couhig and Todd Trosclair purchasing the football club in May 2025.
The Royals are heading into a new era both on and off the pitch with no less than 8 new additions at the Select Car Leasing Stadium so far. Noel Hunt’s side have had a mixed pre-season campaign in terms of results, registering victories against Hungerford Town and Swindon Town with defeats coming against Tottenham Hotspur and most recently against Portsmouth.
City picked up six points against Reading last season, with Bailey Cadamarteri and Reeco Hackett on the scoresheet in a festive home fixture before a goal from substitute James Collins in the away meeting allowed the Imps to do the double over Saturday’s opponents.
Match information:
City will be wearing their home threads for the first time in a competitive outing - make sure you get yours HERE!
Martin Woods will be the man in the middle on Saturday with Andrew Aylott and Ashley Allen playing the role of assistant referees with Richie Watkins as the fourth official.
There’s still time to get your membership for the season to ensure you can watch the Imps for the best price available - get yours HERE!
