Preston North End and Everton will renew one of English football’s oldest rivalries at Deepdale on 26 August, although even the number of previous competitive meetings between the two clubs remains disputed.
The teams first played each other in 1887, a year before the Football League was created. Their latest encounter will either be meeting number 99 or number 100, depending on whether a remarkable 6-0 Preston victory from 26 November 1887 is included in the records.
That match took place at Deepdale, but was later declared void after Everton were removed from the FA Cup for fielding ineligible players in the previous round against Bolton Wanderers.
The decision effectively rewound the competition. Bolton were reinstated, while Preston were ordered to play them instead. North End won that rearranged tie 9-1, but the original 6-0 result disappeared from official records.
Some databases therefore list 98 recognised previous meetings, with Preston winning 32, drawing 28 and Everton winning 38. Others include the match that was played but later expunged, recording 99 meetings, with Preston’s victories rising to 33.
The uncertainty means the Carabao Cup tie will be either the 99th or 100th competitive meeting between the founder members of the Football League.
Preston’s route to the fixture has added another unusual twist. Paul Heckingbottom’s side began their 2026-27 campaign against Huddersfield Town on 8 August at Goodison Park, Everton’s former stadium, because North End’s new hybrid pitch was still being prepared for the Championship season.
The match was moved 35 miles from Deepdale. Preston were reduced to 10 men but scored a late equaliser to make it 1-1, before goalkeeper Daniel Iversen saved twice in the penalty shootout as North End won 4-3.
Two days later, the second-round draw paired Preston with Everton. The reward for winning at Everton’s former home was a home tie against Everton themselves.
The meeting at Deepdale will be the clubs’ first competitive fixture for almost 22 years. Their only previous League Cup encounter came on 27 October 2004, when Everton won 2-0 at Goodison Park in front of 33,922 spectators. Lee Carsley scored a free-kick before being sent off, while Marcus Bent added a late second despite Everton also being down to 10 men.
Their shared history goes back much further than those two cup ties.
When the Football League began in 1888-89, Preston North End and Everton were among the 12 founder members. Preston dominated that inaugural season, completing the 22-game campaign unbeaten with 18 wins and four draws. They also won the FA Cup without conceding a goal, creating the team remembered as the original Invincibles.
Everton lost both league meetings with Preston that season, going down 3-0 at Deepdale in December 1888 and 2-0 at home the following month.
The early fixtures were often high-scoring. Preston won 5-1 away from home in November 1889 and 5-0 at Deepdale in December 1892, while Everton responded with a 6-0 victory in February 1893.
The clubs met again in the FA Cup several weeks later and required three matches to settle the tie. The first ended 2-2, the second 0-0, and Everton eventually won the second replay 2-1.
For many years, the clubs were regular rivals near the top of the English game rather than occasional opponents from different levels.
| Date | Result and significance |
|||
| November 1887 | Preston North End 6-0 Everton – played but later declared void |
| December 1888 | Preston North End 3-0 Everton – during the Invincibles’ unbeaten league season |
| December 1892 | Preston North End 5-0 Everton |
| February 1893 | Everton 6-0 Preston North End |
| August 1954 | Everton 1-0 Preston North End, watched by 76,839 at Goodison Park |
| August 1955 | Everton 0-4 Preston North End |
| February 1957 | Everton 1-4 Preston North End |
| August 1958 | Everton 1-4 Preston North End, watched by 52,306 |
| February 1961 | Preston North End 1-0 Everton – the clubs’ last league meeting |
| January 2000 | Everton 2-0 Preston North End |
| October 2004 | Everton 2-0 Preston North End – their only previous League Cup meeting |
| August 2026 | Preston North End v Everton – competitive meeting number 99 or 100 |
The modern status of the two clubs can obscure Preston’s former strength. North End have not played in England’s top flight since 1961, while Everton remain one of the country’s most consistent top-flight clubs.
In the 1950s, however, Preston were capable of challenging anyone. Sir Tom Finney was the leading figure in a side that repeatedly punished Everton at Goodison Park.
Everton beat Preston 1-0 there on 28 August 1954 in front of 76,839 people. A year later, North End won 4-0 at the same ground. They returned in February 1957 to win 4-1, and after Everton gained revenge with a 4-2 victory in March 1958, Preston came back five months later and won 4-1 again.
It meant three Preston victories at Goodison Park in four seasons in which they scored four goals each time. North End finished runners-up to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1957-58 First Division.
Preston’s 1-0 victory over Everton at Deepdale on 25 February 1961 remains their most recent league meeting. North End were relegated at the end of that season, and the two founder members have not shared a division since.
One of the strongest links between the clubs is Howard Kendall. He joined Preston as a youngster and helped them reach the 1964 FA Cup final, becoming the youngest player to appear in an FA Cup final at Wembley at 17 years and 345 days.
Preston led twice against West Ham United, but Ronnie Boyce scored in the final minute to give the London club a 3-2 victory.
Kendall moved to Everton three years later. He was converted into a midfielder and, alongside Alan Ball and Colin Harvey, formed the midfield known as the Holy Trinity. Harry Catterick’s Everton won the First Division title in 1969-70.
Kendall later returned to Goodison Park as manager in 1981. After a difficult start, he built Everton’s most successful modern team. The club won the FA Cup in 1984, the league championship and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1984-85, and another league title in 1986-87. They also reached the 1985 FA Cup final, losing narrowly to Manchester United and coming within one match of an extraordinary treble.
Kendall remains Everton’s most successful manager, having progressed from Preston prodigy to Everton champion and then the architect of the club’s greatest modern era.
Other people have crossed the divide in both directions. Kevin Kilbane was born in Preston, developed in North End’s youth system and made his senior breakthrough at Deepdale before moving to West Bromwich Albion in 1997. He joined Everton in 2003, making 121 appearances in all competitions and scoring five goals.
United States international Brian McBride joined Preston on loan from Columbus Crew in 2000, when David Moyes was North End manager. Although a permanent transfer was not completed, Moyes later took McBride to Everton on loan. The striker scored four Premier League goals in eight appearances.
Jermaine Beckford made the move the other way. Everton signed him from Leeds United in 2010, and he scored 10 goals during his season at Goodison Park, including a memorable solo effort against Chelsea. He joined Preston four years later and became a North End hero by scoring a hat-trick in their 4-0 League One play-off final victory over Swindon Town at Wembley in 2015.
Derek Temple, whose goal completed Everton’s comeback from 2-0 down against Sheffield Wednesday in the 1966 FA Cup final, also later played for Preston.
The managerial links are just as significant. Brian Kidd played for Everton in 1979 and 1980 before becoming assistant to Tommy Booth at Preston in the mid-1980s and later managing North End during one of the most difficult periods in the club’s history.
Alan Irvine played for Everton before becoming a coach and David Moyes’s assistant at Goodison Park. He left Everton in November 2007 to take his first managerial job at Preston, later returning to the Everton coaching structure and working with Moyes again.
Moyes’ own connection began at Preston. He was managing North End when they visited Goodison Park for an FA Cup tie on 29 January 2000. Everton won 2-0, with David Unsworth scoring a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area and Joe-Max Moore adding a stoppage-time second.
Unsworth had come through Everton’s academy, made hundreds of appearances for the club across several spells and belonged to Joe Royle’s 1995 FA Cup-winning squad. He later moved into coaching at Preston, where he became part of the staff and served twice as caretaker manager. He also returned to Everton’s coaching structure and twice took temporary charge there.
Moyes left Preston for Everton in March 2002. Four years after their 2000 meeting, he was in the opposite dugout when Preston visited Goodison Park for the League Cup match in October 2004.
The relationship has continued through younger players.
Jordan Pickford joined Preston on loan from Sunderland in 2015, gaining regular Championship experience before returning to the Stadium of Light, establishing himself in the Premier League and moving to Everton in 2017. He went on to become Everton and England’s long-term number one.
Anthony Gordon went from Everton to Preston on loan in February 2021, making 11 appearances before returning to Merseyside and breaking into Everton’s first team.
Tom Cannon, another Everton academy product, joined Preston in January 2023 and scored eight Championship goals during the second half of the season.
Harrison Armstrong moved to Preston on loan from Everton in September 2025. He made 17 appearances, scored once against Wrexham and was recalled by Everton on 1 January this year. Preston praised his performances and maturity beyond his years, while his spell brought him into contact with Moyes again more than two decades after the manager had moved from Deepdale to Goodison Park.
Armstrong could feature for Everton against Preston after an impressive pre-season.
Preston defender Lewis Gibson is another current link. He developed through Everton’s academy at Finch Farm after joining the club as a highly-rated teenager, then established himself at North End following loans and subsequent moves away from Goodison Park.
He could now face his former club at Deepdale, just as Armstrong may line up against the side that helped develop him.
There was one more coincidence in the opening round of this season’s Carabao Cup. Ryan Ledson, who developed in Everton’s academy and was once a ball boy at Goodison Park, spent seven years at Preston and made more than 200 appearances for North End before joining Huddersfield Town this summer.
Because of Preston’s temporary relocation, Ledson returned to Goodison Park as Huddersfield captain to face his former club. He missed in the penalty shootout, Preston won and North End were drawn against Everton two days later.
The latest meeting therefore brings together much more than two teams separated by geography and changing league fortunes. It connects a voided Victorian FA Cup result, Preston’s Invincibles, Finney’s great North End side, Kendall’s Everton dynasty, Moyes’ managerial journey and a succession of players who developed or rebuilt their careers at both clubs.
Whether the fixture is recorded as number 99 or number 100, the deeper fact is unchanged: Preston North End and Everton have been connected since before league football existed, and that 139-year story is about to continue at Deepdale.
