{"id":19266,"date":"2026-01-04T17:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T17:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/04\/championship-match-canceled-20-minutes-before-kick-off-after-chaos-erupts-soccer-sports\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T17:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T17:52:00","slug":"championship-match-canceled-20-minutes-before-kick-off-after-chaos-erupts-soccer-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/04\/championship-match-canceled-20-minutes-before-kick-off-after-chaos-erupts-soccer-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Championship match canceled 20 minutes before kick-off after chaos erupts | Soccer | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-mce-linkchecker-status=\"valid\">Hull City announced that their Championship match against Watford had been called off 20 minutes before kick-off. The weather conditions forced authorities to postpone the match, with snow and ice making it the second division&#8217;s latest fixture to fall victim to the frigid temperatures that have hit Britain.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While the pitch is playable, the area around the playing surface has been deemed unsafe,&#8221; the club said in a statement. \u201cWe have been constantly working on this, but the situation has not improved and as temperatures continue to drop, we cannot guarantee the safety of our players.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Temperatures in Hull were barely above freezing and the sun was shining, but despite pitch ramps being in place to deal with the accumulated snow and ice, it was decided the match had to be called off due to safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Hull&#8217;s pitch was deemed playable after a pitch inspection, but defrosting work was being carried out around the sides of the grass, which revealed problems.<\/p>\n<p>Both teams warmed up as usual and the squads were announced an hour before kick-off, with hopes of getting the game going, but the supporters applauded as the players completed their time on the pitch, which was unusual.<\/p>\n<p>Suspicions were raised, and a few minutes later Hull&#8217;s statement was released confirming that the match did not take place as expected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>This was the third match in the Championship to be called off, with Sheffield United v Oxford United and Portsmouth v Ipswich both postponed with still hours before kick-off.<\/p>\n<p>Several matches in League 1 and League 2 were also cancelled.<\/p>\n<p>EFL matches postponed to Sunday<\/p>\n<p>Games were scheduled to start at 3 p.m. unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n<p>championship<\/p>\n<p>Sheffield United v Oxford United (12:00)<\/p>\n<p>portsmouth v ipswich<\/p>\n<p>Hull City vs Watford<\/p>\n<p>league 1<\/p>\n<p>doncaster v luton<\/p>\n<p>Port Vale v Barnsley<\/p>\n<p>Rotherham v Mansfield<\/p>\n<p>Stevenage v Leyton Orient<\/p>\n<p>league 2<\/p>\n<p>barnet v crew<\/p>\n<p>Barrow v Bristol Rovers<\/p>\n<p>Bromley v Oldham<\/p>\n<p>cambridge v grimsby<\/p>\n<p>Colchester v Accrington<\/p>\n<p>Harrogate v Swindon<\/p>\n<p>newport v tranmere<\/p>\n<p>Notts County v Gillingham<\/p>\n<p>salford v shrewsbury<\/p>\n<p>Walsall v Fleetwood<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/2153338\/Championship-match-called-off-Hull-Watford\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hull City announced that their Championship match against Watford had been called off 20 minutes before kick-off. The weather conditions forced authorities to postpone the match, with snow and ice making it the second division&#8217;s latest fixture to fall victim to the frigid temperatures that have hit Britain. &#8220;While the pitch is playable, the area<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19266","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matches"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Championship match canceled 20 minutes before kick-off after chaos erupts | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/04\/championship-match-canceled-20-minutes-before-kick-off-after-chaos-erupts-soccer-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Championship match canceled 20 minutes before kick-off after chaos erupts | Soccer | Sports - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hull City announced that their Championship match against Watford had been called off 20 minutes before kick-off. 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