Watford Football Club, founded in 1881, represents the Hertfordshire town northwest of London and is known worldwide as the Hornets. The club’s yellow-and-black identity, Vicarage Road home and strong local following sit alongside a cosmopolitan squad shaped by international recruitment. This page presents the current recorded team, Paulo Pezzolano’s coaching tenure, recent movement, competition participation and a durable account of Watford’s culture and place in English football.
Watford Upcoming matches by league
Championship
-
- Regular Season - 8
Bristol City
Watford
Ashton Gate Stadium -
- Regular Season - 9
WatfordNo H2HBurnley
Vicarage Road -
- Regular Season - 10
CardiffNo H2HWatford
-
- Regular Season - 11
WatfordNo H2HCharlton
Vicarage Road
Watford Last matches by league
Championship
League Cup
Friendlies Clubs
FA Cup
Watford Team Roster
Watford’s recorded squad contains 32 players: eight attackers, ten defenders, three goalkeepers and eleven midfielders. The group spans every line, with named options in all four positional groups. D. Bachmann, F. Ravaglia and S. Walker form the listed goalkeeper group, while defenders such as J. Ngakia, K. Keben and M. Pollock anchor the defensive cohort. I. Louza, E. Bove, E. Kayembe and M. Payero add midfield options, with K. Baah, R. Vata, L. Kjerrumgaard and Zavier Massiah-Edwards among the attacking choices. The roster uses both abbreviated and full player names, and K. Gorman is listed without a shirt number.
position Goalkeeper
position Defender
Jeremy Mpobi Ngakia
Soumaïla Coulibaly
Kévin Keben Biakolo
Matthew William Pollock
Travis Akomeah
Marc Joel Bola
Joshua Mullins
Omar Haktab Traoré
Branimir Mlacic
Jordan Bhekithemba Zemura
James Andrew Clarridge
A. Eames
Raphael London
position Midfielder
K. Gorman
Hector Matthew Kyprianou
Othmane Maamma
Edoardo Bove
Iker Bravo Solanilla
Martín Ismael Payero
Edouard Kayembe Kayembe
Stephy Alvaro Mavididi
L. Espain
Amar Sanghrajka
position Attacker
Luca Tange Kjerrumgaard
Rocco Vata
Kwadwo Kyeremeh Baah
Zavier Massiah-Edwards
N. Chikovani
Mamadou Doumbia
Myron Boadu
Amin Nabizada
Jack Grieves
Last Watford Coachs
Paulo Pezzolano is Watford’s recorded current coach, having started on May 1, 2025. The Uruguayan coach leads a recent sequence of appointments that also includes Thomas Cleverley, whose spell ran from March 2024 to May 2025, and Valérien Ismaël, recorded from May 2023 to March 2024. Chris Wilder held the position from March to May 2023, while Slaven Bilić’s tenure began in September 2022 and ended in March 2023. The timeline reflects Watford’s recent managerial turnover without extending any coach’s tenure beyond the dates recorded.
Alessio Dionisi
History
| Coach | Coach country | Coach since | Coach until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alessio Dionisi | Italy | 1 August 2026 | |
| Paulo César Pezzolano Suárez | Uruguay | 1 May 2025 | |
| Thomas William Cleverley | England | 1 March 2024 | 1 May 2025 |
| Valérien Alexandre Ismaël | France | 1 May 2023 | 1 March 2024 |
| 1 March 2023 | |||
| Slaven Bilić | Croatia | 1 September 2022 | 1 March 2023 |
| Robert Owen Edwards | England | 1 July 2022 | 1 September 2022 |
| Roy Hodgson | England | 1 January 2022 | 1 June 2022 |
| Claudio Ranieri | Italy | 1 October 2021 | 1 January 2022 |
| 1 January 2021 | 1 October 2021 | ||
| Vladimir Ivić | Serbia | 1 August 2020 | 1 December 2020 |
| Hayden Ian Mullins | England | 1 July 2020 | 1 August 2020 |
| Nigel Graham Pearson | England | 1 December 2019 | 1 July 2020 |
| Hayden Ian Mullins | England | 1 December 2019 | 1 December 2019 |
| Enrique Sánchez Flores | Spain | 1 September 2019 | 1 December 2019 |
| 1 January 2018 | 1 August 2019 | ||
| 1 August 2017 | 1 January 2018 | ||
| Walter Mazzarri | Italy | 1 July 2016 | 1 May 2017 |
| Enrique Sánchez Flores | Spain | 1 June 2015 | 1 May 2016 |
| Slaviša Jokanović | Serbia | 1 October 2014 | 1 June 2015 |
| Óscar García Junyent | Spain | 1 September 2014 | 1 September 2014 |
| Giuseppe Sannino | Italy | 1 December 2013 | 1 August 2014 |
| Brendan Rodgers | Northern Ireland | 1 November 2008 | 1 June 2009 |
| Adrian Neil Boothroyd | England | 1 March 2005 | 1 November 2008 |
Watford Transfers
Recent recorded arrivals include S. Walker from Bradford, M. Payero and F. Ravaglia from Udinese and L. Kjerrumgaard, Iker Bravo and O. Traoré also from Udinese. J. Zemura arrived on loan from Udinese, while M. Adu-Poku returned from Wealdstone after a loan spell. Other recorded returns include D. Bachmann from Leyton Orient and Travis Akomeah from Gillingham. The wider recent list also contains loan arrivals P. Ekwah from Saint Etienne, S. Goglichidze from Udinese and S. Mfuni from Manchester City. These entries distinguish permanent transfers, loans and returns; no fee amounts are recorded.
Latest player transfers from
| Player | Team from | Transfer type | Transfer date |
|---|---|---|---|
| M. Antonio |
Al-Sailiya
|
Free agent | 10 September 2026 |
| Branimir Mlačić |
Udinese
|
Loan | 31 August 2026 |
| S. Coulibaly |
Strasbourg
|
Loan | 31 August 2026 |
| S. Mavididi |
Leicester
|
Loan | 31 August 2026 |
| M. Boadu |
PSV Eindhoven
|
Free agent | 31 August 2026 |
| J. Mullins |
Wealdstone
|
Return from loan | 30 August 2026 |
| S. Walker |
Bradford
|
Transfer | 11 August 2026 |
| J. Zemura |
Udinese
|
Loan | 1 August 2026 |
| M. Payero |
Udinese
|
Transfer | 30 July 2026 |
| F. Ravaglia |
Bologna
|
Transfer | 30 July 2026 |
| M. Payero |
Udinese
|
Transfer | 29 July 2026 |
| Iker Bravo |
Udinese
|
Transfer | 23 July 2026 |
| L. Kjerrumgaard |
Udinese
|
Transfer | 23 July 2026 |
| O. Traoré |
Udinese
|
Transfer | 15 July 2026 |
| M. Antonio |
Al-Sailiya
|
Free agent | 29 June 2026 |
Recent recorded departures include E. Selvik on loan to Stade Brestois 29, Alfie Marriott on loan to Chelmsford City and Vivaldo Semedo on loan to Alverca. N. Mendy and T. Ince are listed as free-agent departures, while T. Dele-Bashiru, G. Chakvetadze and N. Baxter moved to Aris Thessalonikis, Udinese and Leyton Orient respectively. Several entries record returns from loan, including J. Abankwah to Udinese, S. Mfuni to Manchester City and P. Ekwah to Saint Etienne. No amounts are recorded for these movements.
Latest player transfers to
| Player | Team to | Transfer type | Transfer date |
|---|---|---|---|
| M. Adu-Poku |
Newport County
|
Loan | 1 September 2026 |
| I. Louza |
Panathinaikos
|
Transfer | 27 August 2026 |
| P. Dwomoh |
K. Lierse S.K.
|
Free agent | 26 August 2026 |
| N. Irankunda |
Sporting CP
|
Transfer | 14 August 2026 |
| J. Pétris |
Aris Thessalonikis
|
Transfer | 13 August 2026 |
| E. Selvik |
Stade Brestois 29
|
Loan | 12 August 2026 |
| Alfie Marriott |
Chelmsford City
|
Loan | 3 August 2026 |
| J. Mullins |
Wealdstone
|
Loan | 2 August 2026 |
| N. Mendy |
Metz
|
Free agent | 30 July 2026 |
| T. Ince |
Tranmere
|
Free agent | 26 July 2026 |
| T. Ince |
Tranmere
|
Free agent | 25 July 2026 |
| T. Dele-Bashiru |
Aris Thessalonikis
|
Transfer | 21 July 2026 |
| Vivaldo Semedo |
Alverca
|
Loan | 15 July 2026 |
| J. Lawson |
FF Jaro
|
Free agent | 12 July 2026 |
| G. Chakvetadze |
Udinese
|
Transfer | 5 July 2026 |
Transfers Synthesis
Watford’s recent movement picture combines incoming registrations, temporary loans and players returning from previous loan spells. The arrivals include several links with Udinese, alongside additions from Bradford and Bologna and loan returns from clubs such as Wealdstone, Leyton Orient and Gillingham. Outgoing activity is similarly mixed: loans to Stade Brestois 29, Chelmsford City and Alverca sit alongside free-agent departures, direct transfers and returns to parent clubs including Udinese, Manchester City and Saint Etienne. The sequence also shows how a player can appear in successive movement records, with loan returns followed by a later arrival entry in the case of L. Kjerrumgaard. Because the published lists are recent grouped selections rather than a complete movement ledger, they indicate the character of activity without establishing a full-window total, financial balance or definitive account of every change.
Leagues Watford has participated in
Watford’s recent recorded competition participation includes the Championship, FA Cup, League Cup and Friendlies Clubs, each listed through 2025 with recent activity. Championship, FA Cup and League Cup entries begin in 2011, while Friendlies Clubs is recorded from 2020. Premier League participation runs from 2015 to 2021 in the available history and is therefore historical rather than recent. The record covers league football, domestic knockout tournaments and club friendly matches, showing continuity across Watford’s regular English schedule and its recorded preparation fixtures.
More about Watford
Watford Football Club was founded in 1881 and represents Watford in Hertfordshire, a town northwest of London. The club is widely known as the Hornets and also carries the Golden Boys nickname, while its traditional yellow-and-black colours give the team one of the clearest visual identities in English football. Vicarage Road has been Watford’s home since 1922, and the Sir Elton John Stand reflects the enduring connection between the club and the lifelong supporter, former chairman and global music figure.
The club’s story began as Watford Rovers before developing through the Southern League and into the English Football League. Its defining early modern period came in the 1980s under Graham Taylor. Watford finished as First Division runners-up and appeared in an FA Cup final during that era, achievements that established a lasting reputation for exceeding expectations. The hornet emblem was adopted in 1977, following the earlier Linnet nickname and a blue-and-white visual tradition.
Watford’s culture combines strong local backing with an outward-looking football identity. The yellow home shirt, commonly paired with black shorts and socks, remains central to that identity, while the squad profile has long reflected international scouting and a blend of experienced players and emerging talent. The Pozzo family, led by Gino Pozzo, owns the club and has connected its operation with a broad international network of scouting, player development and affiliated-club relationships. That structure, together with the club’s managerial turnover and passionate support, forms a distinctive ecosystem around a team that has moved between English football’s levels while retaining a recognisable home, colour scheme and community presence.
Last matches statistics for Watford
| match | shots | Poss. | Pass % | Fouls | Cards | Saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Watford
0 - 1
Fiorentina
|
0 / 0 |
|
0% | 0 | - | 0 |
|
Watford
1 - 0
Crawley Town
|
11 / 36 |
|
85 | 11 | 2 | 3 |
|
Watford
2 - 1
Southampton
|
4 / 16 |
|
78 | 12 | 6 | 2 |
|
Wrexham
1 - 1
Watford
|
6 / 10 |
|
73 | 11 | - | 1 |
|
Watford
1 - 5
Peterborough
|
5 / 17 |
|
89 | 7 | - | 6 |
|
Watford
1 - 1
West Ham
|
4 / 15 |
|
78 | 9 | 3 | 1 |
|
Swansea
2 - 0
Watford
|
3 / 9 |
|
0% | 14 | 4 | 6 |
|
West Brom
1 - 0
Watford
|
2 / 11 |
|
0% | 11 | 3 | 3 |
|
Watford
2 - 1
Preston
|
5 / 15 |
|
0% | 7 | - | 5 |
|
Watford
1 - 2
Stoke City
|
2 / 6 |
|
0% | 14 | 2 | 4 |
Detailed statistics Watford
Xtra rating history
Last rating points (most recent matches).
shots Watford
Warnings Watford
Passes Watford
Goalkeeper saves Watford
Latest start lineups Watford (XI)
Watford vs Stoke City
Championship 2026 - 1563164
Watford vs Preston
Championship 2026 - 1563149
West Brom vs Watford
Championship 2026 - 1563141
Watford vs Southampton
Championship 2026 - 1563092
Watford vs Crawley Town
League Cup 2026 - 1610960
Watford vs Coventry
Championship 2025 - 1387092
2026-2027
1st shirt
2026-2027
2nd shirt
2025-2026
1st shirt
2024-2025
1st shirt
2023-2024
1st shirt
2021-2022
1st shirt
2021-2022
2nd shirt
2021-2022
3rd shirt
2021-2022
4th shirt
2020-2021
1st shirt
2020-2021
2nd shirt
2019-2020
1st shirt
2019-2020
2nd shirt