Preston North End's visit to Norwich City on Saturday to be watched by 1,000 fans inside Carrow Road

The Championship clash is one of nine EFL games selected as a return of fans pilot.

Capacity at all the games will be limited to 1,000 but still represents a big step forward in getting supporters back inside football grounds.

Not since early March have fans been able to watch live football at stadiums and it is hoped bigger crowds will be allowed from early October.

Middlesbrough's meeting with Bournemouth at the Riverside Stadium is the other Championship games which have been selected for the pilot.

Luton's clash with Derby at Kenilworth Road was initially selected but Luton had to stand down because of the timescale involved to prepare.

The four games chosen in League One are Charlton Athletic v Doncaster Rovers, Blackpool v Swindon Town, Shrewsbury Town v Northampton Town and Hull City v Crewe Alexandra.

Morecambe's home game against Cambridge United is one of three selected in League Two together with Forest Green Rovers v Bradford City and Carlisle United v Southend United.

EFL Chair, Rick Parry said: "It’s encouraging that we are in a position to move forward with the next phase of the pilot programme and give a small number of our clubs the opportunity to welcome back up to a 1,000 fans this week.

"The health and well-being of supporters and their wider communities remains the priority, but as we showed at Cambridge, social distancing can be applied safely.

"By extending across more EFL clubs we hope to further demonstrate that the measures developed can allow fans to return in greater numbers from as early as next month.

"The requirement to welcome spectators back through turnstiles has not diminished in any way, the financial challenges facing EFL Clubs have been explained on numerous occasions, they are substantial and a problem that requires immediate solutions."

Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden said: "I know that many fans are eager to return to football and that jobs depend on this too, so fans will welcome news that the EFL will be running number capped, Covid secure, and socially distanced pilots this weekend.

"This will help us build the evidence base to see how we can return fans safely in greater numbers as soon as it is safe to do so."

Clubs situated in areas of local lockdown were excluded from applying to host a pilot game.