Team guides · Hull City

Team profile · HUL

Hull City FPL team guide 2026/27

Squad, fixture runs and rotation partners

Avg FDR

3.20

Next 5 fixtures

For attackers

2.80

Bawler's attack-side split

For defence

3.00

Bawler's defence-side split

Schedule pulse

Difficulty across the next 5 listed fixtures.

Avg FDR

3.20

Balanced

FDR 1–2

Favourable

FDR 4–5

Difficult

Open full schedule

Attack vs defence

Bawler's own split — the same run can be kind to one end and cruel to the other.

For attackers

2.80

Balanced

For defence

3.00

Balanced

Rated 1 (easiest) to 5 from the opponent's attacking and defensive strength, not the official single number. How it's built →

Rotation partners

Own one from each pair and start whichever has the kinder week.

Scored by taking the easier of the two clubs' fixtures each gameweek across the listed horizon.

Fixture run

Every listed fixture ahead, coloured by official FPL difficulty.

GW1

MUN H

GW2

COV A

GW3

AVL H

GW4

CHE A

GW5

NEW A

Researched 30 July 2026 — pre-season picture, check team news before the deadline. Everything below comes from the cited sources at the foot of the page; where a fact could not be verified, the guide says so instead of guessing.

Manager & style

Sergej Jakirović

Transition-first, low-possession, high-intensity. Jakirović models his approach on Jürgen Klopp's gegenpressing: Hull hunt the ball immediately after losing it and are willing to foul to win it back. They ranked 19th for possession in the Championship — a deliberate trade of ball control for speed in transition — and generated 56 fast-break shots, the second-most in the division, while averaging over 25 accurate long passes per game. Oli McBurnie is the focal point, holding the ball up so teammates can gamble forward. Out of possession the block is compact and suppresses opposition shot quality even when Hull are dominated on the ball. Primary shape is 4-3-3, but he switches to a back three with wing-backs (a 5-4-1) depending on opposition strengths, and used exactly that in the play-off final win at Wembley. He is explicitly non-dogmatic and reshapes teams mid-match — his substitutions decided the play-off semi-final at Millwall. 2025/26 Championship output: 70 goals scored (5th, on 55.04 non-penalty xG) but 66 conceded (21st), which is the central survival concern. Jakirović said after promotion that 12-15 reinforcements were needed; roughly five have arrived.

Usual shape: 4-3-3 primary; 5-4-1 / back three with wing-backs used situationally (including the play-off final). Both 2026 pre-season friendlies were played in a 4-2-3-1.

Summer transfers

In

Player	Pos	From	Fee	Expected role
Konstantinos Tzolakis	GK	Olympiacos	REPORTED €15m-€20m+ — would be a CLUB RECORD	AGREED BUT NOT OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED as of 30 July — treat as imminent, not confirmed. Jakirović told BBC Radio Humberside on 21 July the deal was '95%' done with 'only the medical and contract signing remaining'; medical reported completed in Athens 25 July; TransferFeed reported the four-year deal complete on 29 July; he was due to join the Turkey pre-season camp on 29 July. HOWEVER Transfermarkt still does not list him and no club announcement has been found. Greece international, aged 23. Reported to include an Olympiacos buy-back if Hull are relegated by June 2027. If confirmed he becomes first-choice keeper IMMEDIATELY, displacing Jack Butland.
Jack Butland	GK	Rangers	£3m (Wikipedia) / €3.5m (Transfermarkt)	Signed 2 July to replace Ivor Pandur, as part of the same deal that took Pandur to Rangers. Two-year deal with a club option for a further year. Aged 33 with 77 Premier League appearances for Stoke and 10 for Crystal Palace. Made a solid debut v Konyaspor and played the full 90 v Rizespor. NOW AT RISK: the reported Tzolakis signing lands directly on top of him. FPL price £4.5m.
Matt Targett	LB	Newcastle United	Free transfer	Experienced Premier League left-back on a two-year deal with a club option. Signed 23 July; competes directly with Ryan Giles. Absent from the Rizespor friendly squad on 28 July (reason unspecified).
Hidemasa Morita	CM	Sporting CP	Free transfer	Japan international, aged 31, on a two-year deal with a club option. Signed 24 July as a free agent. Reported to be carrying a calf injury with roughly 10 days out — absent from the Rizespor squad.
Óscar Zambrano	CDM	NK Maribor	£3.5m (Wikipedia) / undisclosed (Transfermarkt)	Aged 22, signed 21 July. Midfield reinforcement — significant given Eliot Matazo's long-term ACL absence and Darko Gyabi's fitness record.
Ben Robinson	CB	Preston North End	Free transfer	Signed 7 July per Wikipedia. NOT listed on Transfermarkt's arrivals — single-source, treat as lower confidence. Defensive depth, particularly relevant with Charlie Hughes recovering from hernia surgery.

Out

Player	Pos	To	Fee
Ivor Pandur	GK	Rangers	£6m (Wikipedia) / €7m (Transfermarkt)
Kyle Joseph	CF	Middlesbrough	£4m (Wikipedia) / €4.7m (Transfermarkt)
Aidon Shehu	CAM	Panathinaikos	£2.6m
Kasey Palmer	CAM	Luton Town	£500k (Wikipedia) / €580k (Transfermarkt)
Akin Famewo	CB	Bolton Wanderers	Undisclosed
Mason Burstow	CF	Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	Loan
Harvey Cartwright	GK	Grimsby Town (loan)	Loan
Joe Gelhardt, Toby Collyer, Amir Hadziahmetovic, Lewis Koumas, John Lundstram, Yu Hirakawa	Various	Loans expired — returned to parent clubs	Loan expiry

Current injuries

Player	Issue	Expected return
Charlie Hughes	Double hernia surgery at the end of the 2025/26 season, having played through the pain barrier (Hull Daily Mail, 27 Jul). Absent from the entire Slovenia pre-season camp since at least 22 July; Hull Live headline 29 Jul: 'Jakirovic admits Charlie Hughes worry amid ongoing absence'. AMBIGUITY: the club has never publicly stated the reason for his camp absence, and Hughes attracted £10m+ bids in 2025 plus Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough interest in January 2026 — so a transfer, not just the hernia, may be in play.	UNCONFIRMED. A genuine GW1 doubt — and the most significant one at the club, since FFScout named him one of only two assured GW1 starters.
Eliot Matazo	Cruciate ligament tear. Date of injury also conflicts: Transfermarkt says 25 April 2026, the research trail says mid-January 2026.	THREE-WAY SOURCE CONFLICT: Transfermarkt says 30 November 2026; FotMob says ~mid-January 2027; hullcitynews.co.uk (Sofascore-fed) implies March 2027. Long-term either way — rule out for at least the first half of the season.
Hidemasa Morita	Calf injury, already roughly three weeks old on arrival	Jakirović, 27 July: 'another 10 days away from the pitch' → approximately 6 August. Should be available for GW1 but will have had almost no pre-season.
Mohamed Belloumi	Hamstring tightness felt in the warm-up at half-time v Rizespor; withdrew from a planned 30 minutes v Konyaspor	Assistant Dean Holden, 28 July: 'Mo's trained today, he literally just felt a bit of stiffness, a bit of tightness in his hamstring.' Expected back for Kasımpaşa on 1 August. Minor.
Lewie Coyle	Captain and first-choice right-back. Two overlapping reports: assistant Dean Holden on 28 July described a pre-existing ankle niggle ('something he's been feeling for a while'), while BBC Sport the same day reported he was FORCED OFF injured in first-half stoppage time during the Rizespor win. No diagnosis has been published.	UNVERIFIED — severity unknown as of 30 July. Right-back is also an active recruitment area. Monitor closely.
Matty Jacob	Hip problem sustained in an aerial challenge	Under assessment as of 28 July; hullcitynews lists a return date around 1 August.
Darko Gyabi	Knock at the bottom of the hamstring behind the knee (28 July). NOTE: Transfermarkt still lists him with a groin injury 'since 13 January 2026' — that entry is stale, as he is back in contention.	Expected available for Kasımpaşa on 1 August.
Abu Kamara	Minor knock sustained in a friendly	Expected to feature v Kasımpaşa on 1 August.
Abdülkadir Ömür	Injured during the Konyaspor friendly on 25 July (replaced by Nathan Tinsdale)	UNCONFIRMED — he assisted a goal in the Rizespor friendly on 28 July, so the issue appears to have been minor.
Matt Targett	Fitness — training on an individual programme. Jakirović, 27 July: he is 'far away from our players'.	Unspecified. Unlikely to threaten Ryan Giles for the GW1 left-back shirt.

Injury picture as of 30 July 2026 — availability moves fast in pre-season, so confirm against official team news.

Expected XI & selection battles

Formation: 4-2-3-1 (used in both pre-season friendlies); 4-3-3 is Jakirović's stated primary, with a 5-4-1 available against stronger sides — GW1 is away at Manchester United, which makes the back five a live possibility

GK Jack Butland (or Konstantinos Tzolakis if the deal is announced)
RB Lewie Coyle (c) — injury doubt
CB Semi Ajayi
CB John Egan (Charlie Hughes returns here if fit)
LB Ryan Giles
CM Regan Slater
CM Matt Crooks (Hidemasa Morita likely in once fit)
RW Abu Kamara
AM Kieran Dowell
LW Liam Millar
ST Oli McBurnie

Battles to watch

BASIS: this is the Çaykur Rizespor XI of 28 July (4-2-3-1), clearly the strongest side named so far — Butland; Coyle, Ajayi, Egan, Giles; Slater, Crooks; Kamara, Dowell, Millar; McBurnie. Projected GW1 adjustments: Tzolakis in for Butland if the deal is announced; Hughes back at centre-back if fit (Ajayi or Egan drops); Morita into the double pivot; Targett pushing Giles once fit.
THIS XI IS LOW CONFIDENCE. FFScout (5 Jul) reported that only Charlie Hughes and Oli McBurnie were assured of a GW1 start — and Hughes has since missed the entire Slovenia camp. Jakirović stated 12-15 reinforcements were needed and roughly five have arrived, so the XI could change substantially before 22 August.
CENTRE-BACK — Charlie Hughes' fitness is the key question. Akin Famewo has been sold, Ben Robinson arrived on a free, and Semi Ajayi is the likely partner. If Hughes misses GW1 the entire back line is unsettled.
LEFT-BACK — Ryan Giles vs Matt Targett. Giles was singled out for promising attacking contributions v Konyaspor and is a designated corner taker; Targett brings the Premier League pedigree. Genuine competition.
CENTRAL MIDFIELD — heavily disrupted. Eliot Matazo is out long-term with an ACL tear, Darko Gyabi has a poor fitness record, Morita has a calf problem, and Zambrano is a 22-year-old new arrival. Regan Slater looks the most secure.
ATTACK — Enis Destan, Abu Kamara, Kieran Dowell, Mohamed Belloumi and Nathan Tinsdale all featured and scored or assisted in pre-season. Oli McBurnie is the only nailed forward.
GOALKEEPER — was settled on Jack Butland after Pandur's £6m sale, but the reported €15m+ Konstantinos Tzolakis signing would displace him immediately. This is the single most consequential unresolved selection question at the club.

Set-piece takers

Treat with care: the sources themselves flag part of this hierarchy as carried over from last season or unverified. The detail below spells out exactly what is and is not confirmed.

Penalties

Oli McBurnie — listed as Hull's penalty taker on Fantasy Football Scout's 2026/27 set-piece takers page and in their 30 July Hull attackers piece, corroborated by EA FC 26 career-mode data. He scored 18 league goals (19 including play-offs) plus 7 assists in 2025/26 and the 95th-minute play-off final winner; all his goals came from inside the box. CONFLICT: one aggregator summary of 2025/26 CHAMPIONSHIP data lists Matt Crooks as first-choice taker with McBurnie second. FFScout's 2026/27 page lists McBurnie alone — the safer assumption, but not certain.

Free kicks

No direct free-kick taker designated by Fantasy Football Scout. Crowd-sourced trackers suggest Ryan Giles and Mohamed Belloumi — low confidence, unverified.

Corners

Regan Slater and Ryan Giles per Fantasy Football Scout's 2026/27 page. LIVE 2026/27 EVIDENCE: FFScout's 29 July pre-season report confirms Giles 'continued sharing set-piece duties from left-back' in the Rizespor friendly — this is the strongest current-season set-piece signal at any of the four clubs. Separate data had Giles on left-side corners and Joe Gelhardt on the right, but Gelhardt's loan has expired and he has returned to Leeds, so right-side duty is vacant.

FPL winners & losers

Looking up

Oli McBurnie (£5.5m FWD)

The one genuinely nailed Hull attacker — penalty taker, tactical focal point for a hold-up-and-counter system, 18 league goals and scorer of the play-off final winner. Caveat: he under-performed his xG in all four of his Premier League seasons at Sheffield United.

Ryan Giles (£4.0m DEF)

The standout value angle at the club — starting attacking left-back on corners and shared set-piece duty, confirmed in live 2026/27 pre-season, at minimum price.

Kieran Dowell (£4.5m MID)

Scored and assisted v Rizespor from the number ten slot — the cheapest access to Hull's creative hub.

Konstantinos Tzolakis (if the deal is announced)

A €15m+ goalkeeper walks straight into the XI, behind a defence that posted the second-worst xGC in the Championship — very high save volume.

Regan Slater and Matt Crooks (£4.5m MID)

Priced as bench fodder but likely starters in a badly disrupted midfield (Matazo out long-term, Morita injured); Crooks specifically flagged for defensive-contribution potential, Slater shares corners.

Abu Kamara (£5.0m) / Enis Destan

Both scored in pre-season and compete for starts in a system generating fast-break shots at the second-highest rate in the Championship — cheap punts if a role firms up.

Handle with care

Hull City defenders and clean sheets generally

THE KEY TEAM-LEVEL SIGNAL: conceded 66 in the Championship against an xGC of 82.69 (23rd of 24) — roughly 17 goals of luck — and Opta's expected points table had Hull 23rd, the division's biggest over-performance. Clean-sheet assets are a trap, and the opening run is Man Utd, Coventry, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Newcastle. FFScout recommends waiting until around GW6.

Jack Butland (£4.5m GK)

Playing well and started both friendlies, but a reported club-record goalkeeper signing lands directly on top of him.

Charlie Hughes

Missed the entire Slovenia camp after double hernia surgery, with the club never stating the reason publicly and transfer interest also in play; was otherwise the most nailed defender at the club.

Lewie Coyle (£4.0m DEF)

Captain, but forced off injured on 28 July with no diagnosis published, and right-back is an active recruitment area.

Mohamed Belloumi (£5.0m MID)

Genuine talent but a chronic injury record, a public 'I'm worried' from Jakirović, and incoming wide competition (Leon Bailey reportedly close).

Eliot Matazo

Cruciate ligament tear — out until at least November 2026 and possibly March 2027. Not ownable.

Hidemasa Morita (£5.0m MID)

Aged 31, signed late as a free agent and already three weeks into a calf problem — almost no pre-season behind him.

Research calls from the sources below, not model output — the model's numbers for these players are on predicted points.

Key uncertainties

The honest list — what this guide could not pin down as of 30 July 2026. Any of these can change the FPL picture before Gameweek 1:

THE STARTING XI IS THE LEAST SETTLED OF THE FOUR CLUBS. FFScout reported on 5 July that only Charlie Hughes and Oli McBurnie were assured of starting GW1, and Hughes has since been sidelined. Jakirović said 12-15 reinforcements were needed after promotion; roughly five have arrived, so the squad is materially unfinished with the window open to 1 September.
Charlie Hughes' GW1 availability after double hernia surgery is unresolved and is the single biggest defensive question.
FORMATION: 4-3-3 is the stated primary and both friendlies were 4-2-3-1, but Jakirović used a 5-4-1 with wing-backs to win the play-off final and picks by opposition strength. GW1 away at Manchester United is exactly the fixture that invites the back five — which would change the defender count and Ryan Giles' role.
Hull have an unusually long list of small knocks: Belloumi (hamstring), Coyle (ankle), Kamara (knock), Gyabi (hamstring), Jacob (hip), Morita (calf), Targett (unspecified). Jakirović joked the club would 'need a squad of 50 players'. None is individually severe but the cumulative GW1 risk is real.
SOURCE CONFLICT on Eliot Matazo's return: Transfermarkt says 30 November 2026, hullcitynews.co.uk implies March 2027.
SOURCE CONFLICT on transfers: Wikipedia lists Ben Robinson (Preston, free) and Aidon Shehu (Panathinaikos, £2.6m) but Transfermarkt does not. Fees differ across sources for Butland, Pandur, Joseph and Palmer. Zambrano's fee is £3.5m per Wikipedia and undisclosed per Transfermarkt.
Set-piece and penalty data is entirely from the 2025/26 CHAMPIONSHIP season, stamped 'verified GW31'. No 2026/27 Premier League confirmation exists. Right-side corner duty is vacant since Joe Gelhardt's loan expired.
Transfermarkt's injury page is stale for Hull — it still lists Darko Gyabi as out with a groin problem since 13 January 2026 when he is back in contention. Prefer beat reporting (Hull Daily Mail, Where In Hull) over aggregators for this club.
Jakirović has never managed in the Premier League; his top-flight experience is Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian and Turkish. His transition-heavy, low-possession model is untested against Premier League opposition.
One widely-indexed 'Hull City 2026/27 season preview' (lapremierleague.com, dated 13 July 2026) is entirely STALE — it names Liam Rosenior as manager and Oscar Estupiñán, Jean Michaël Seri and Jacob Greaves as key players. Do not ingest it.
IS TZOLAKIS ACTUALLY SIGNED? The highest-impact open question. Jakirović said '95%' on 21 July, a medical was reported completed 25 July, and TransferFeed reported a four-year deal done on 29 July — but Transfermarkt lists nothing and no club announcement has been found. This single fact swings Hull's entire goalkeeper asset.
PSR / FINANCIAL CONTEXT: Hull had a roughly £6m PSR overspend triggered by promotion bonuses and faced a potential six-point EFL deduction. Pandur and Shehu were sold before 30 June specifically to comply. Net transfer balance is currently POSITIVE (~+€8.8m) — a promoted club that has so far sold more than it has bought. BBC was still asking on 29 July whether Hull are under transfer restrictions (they served an EFL embargo in 2025/26, reduced on appeal). This materially constrains the 12-15 signings Jakirović said he wanted.
Live transfer targets that would reshape the XI: Leon Bailey (Aston Villa — left out of Villa's pre-season squad on 30 July, deal reported 'edging closer'), Florentino Luís (Burnley, ~£20.8m), and a possible Joe Gelhardt return from Leeds (15 goals on loan last season; wages are the blocker). Owner Acun Ilıcalı posts transfer 'clues' on X — treat those as noise, not confirmation.
FIXTURE NOTE: Hull's GW1 is Manchester United AT HOME, Saturday 22 August 2026, 12:30 — not 21 August and not away. (An earlier FFScout piece referring to 'Old Trafford in GW1' is contradicted by the published Sky Sports fixture list.) Opening five: Man Utd (H), Coventry (A), Aston Villa (H), Chelsea (A), Newcastle (A).
PROMOTION ROUTE VERIFIED: via the 2026 EFL play-offs from 6th place on 73 points — the first sixth-placed side promoted to the top flight since 2010 — beating Millwall in the semi-final and Middlesbrough 1-0 in the Wembley final on 23 May 2026 through a 95th-minute Oli McBurnie winner. CONTEXT: Southampton (4th) were EXPELLED from the play-offs after an analyst was caught filming Middlesbrough training inside the 72-hour window; Boro replaced them in the final and Southampton's appeal was rejected. First season back in the Premier League since 2016/17.
Squad usage: Jakirović used 34 players in 2025/26 (most of the promoted trio) but six players made 35+ starts — the churn was injury-driven rather than a rotation policy. Hull's own correspondent could not give a definitive read on his rotation tendency.
One aggregator note: FFScout's 30 July 'best Hull attackers' piece still lists Joe Gelhardt (£5.0m) and Kyle Joseph — that piece describes 2025/26 Championship output, not the current squad. Joseph is at Middlesbrough and Gelhardt is back at Leeds.
Pre-season form has been good (3-0 v Konyaspor, 2-1 v Çaykur Rizespor) but against modest Turkish opposition; three harder friendlies remain (Kasımpaşa 1 Aug, Eintracht Frankfurt 8 Aug, Nice 15 Aug) and will be far more informative.

Sources

Sergej Jakirović (Wikipedia) — appointment 11 June 2025, replaced Igor Bišćan — 2026-07-30
2026–27 Hull City A.F.C. season (Wikipedia) — transfers, pre-season, promotion route — 2026-07-30
2025–26 Hull City A.F.C. season (Wikipedia) — play-off route, McBurnie 17 goals — 2026-07-30
Hull City Transfers 26/27 (Transfermarkt) — 2026-07-30
Hull City suspensions and injuries (Transfermarkt) — note: stale on Gyabi — 2026-07-30
Hull City current injury list (hullcitynews.co.uk, Sofascore-fed) — 2026-07-30

About this guide

A point-in-time research snapshot compiled 30 July 2026, showing the six most recent of the sources the research drew on. It does not update in real time — line-ups, fitness and transfers can all move before the deadline, so always confirm against official team news. All 20 club guides are on team guides.

FPL is a free fantasy game — this is squad research, not betting advice.

Updated 13 August 2026, 07:21 UK · Source: Official FPL API