When the fixture list landed this summer, this was the one. Wolverhampton Wanderers against West Bromwich Albion at Molineux, in the league, in front of a full house. For the first time since January 2012.

Sunday's Championship meeting is the first time supporters on either side of the Black Country divide have been able to watch their teams contest a league derby at Molineux since a day that Wolves fans would very much prefer to forget. February 2012: Wolves 1-5 Albion. Peter Odemwingie helped himself to a hat-trick; a slightly older Keith Andrews, by then in Baggies colours, scored against his old club for good measure. Wolves boss Mick McCarthy was sacked the morning after. The hosts were relegated at the end of that same campaign.

That scoreline has sat in the back of Wolves fans' minds ever since, and Sunday represents the first genuine chance to address it in front of a home crowd. No wonder the atmosphere around the fixture has been building for weeks.

A rivalry as old as the Football League itself

The Black Country derby goes back to the very beginning of organised English football. The two clubs first met in the FA Cup in 1886, when Albion won, and then again in 1887, Albion winning once more. Their first league encounter came in December 1888, the inaugural season of the Football League, when Wolves edged it 2-1.

Across 138 years, the fixture is remarkably balanced: 55 league wins for Albion, 52 for Wolves. In the broader sweep of history there is little to separate them. In recent decades, though, the Baggies have had the better of it. Since the turn of the Millennium, across 18 league and cup derbies, Albion have won 10 to Wolves' four.

The most recent meeting, in the FA Cup fourth round at The Hawthorns in January 2024, went to Wolves, 2-0. That occasion was badly scarred when play was halted for 38 minutes after police were assaulted, missiles were thrown and flares were set off. It is why both clubs issued a joint statement this week making plain their expectations of supporter behaviour. Their message was clear: the rivalry should be fierce and it should be proud, but it needs to stay within the bounds of decency.

Two managers with contrasting relationships to the fixture

The dressing rooms tell their own story about how much this fixture means. West Brom boss James Morrison has played in five Black Country derbies and knows every emotional gradient. He has gone so far as to bring in one of the club's historians to brief his squad on the full context of the fixture, a touch that speaks to how seriously he is treating the occasion rather than treating it like any other Championship weekend.

Wolves manager Cesar Peixoto, by contrast, faces his first Black Country derby in the dugout. He will need no shortage of briefings either: the noise at Molineux on Sunday will do much of the educating for him.

A fixture the Black Country never stops talking about

The memories carried into this game stretch across generations. Steve Bull's first derby goal in 1989. Iwan Roberts' Hawthorns hat-trick in 1996. Darren Bradley's 35-yard effort for Albion in 1993. Bob Taylor's late winner in 1995. George Ndah's double in 2001, when Albion pipped Wolves for promotion by three points. Steven Fletcher's two-goal performance in May 2011. Carlos Vela equalising for Albion in Roy Hodgson's first game that same year.

The last time the sides met in the Championship, in the 2020-21 season behind closed doors in the strange post-Covid football landscape, Albion took four points from a possible six off their neighbours, yet still suffered relegation. Both derbies that campaign were played without supporters present, which in the context of a fixture that feeds entirely on atmosphere felt like a particularly cruel trick.

What makes Sunday different is precisely that: a ground full of people with a genuine stake in what happens. Both clubs spent long spells in the top flight after that 2012 humiliation, but rarely at the same time. Now they are back together in the Championship, and the Black Country can finally argue about it properly again.

It is, by any measure, the sort of fixture the second tier exists to produce.

Frequently asked

When was the last Black Country derby at Molineux in the league?
The last league meeting at Molineux was in January 2021, during the post-Covid season, and was played behind closed doors. The last one in front of fans was in February 2012, when Albion won 5-1.
What is the overall record between Wolves and West Brom in league derbies?
Across 138 years of the fixture, West Brom lead with 55 league wins to Wolves' 52. Since the year 2000, Albion have won 10 of 18 league and cup derbies, with Wolves winning four.
Who are the managers for the Wolves vs West Brom Championship derby?
West Brom are managed by James Morrison, who has played in five Black Country derbies himself. Wolves are managed by Cesar Peixoto, who will be taking charge of his first Black Country derby as a manager.