EFL Championship

Publication date: 02 Sep 2022

About the English Football League Championship

The English Football League Championship is the top division of the Premier League and the second highest division after the Premier League. It takes place every year. The season starts in July and finishes in May. There are 24 teams in the tournament.

Official EFL Championship website

2024/2025 English Football League Championship

The tournament is renowned for its high level of competition, a tight schedule and a tense battle for promotion to the top division. The 2024/2025 season began in August 2024 and will end in May 2025, determining three teams that will be promoted to the Premier League.

Championship consists of 24 clubs, playing 46 matches in the regular season. At the end of the championship, the two best teams go directly to the Premier League, and the teams that take 3rd to 6th places play for the last ticket through the playoffs.

Participants and favorites

The composition of the Championship changes every year: three clubs are relegated from the Premier League, and three teams are promoted from League 1. In the 2024/2025 season, there are well-known clubs among the participants that previously played in the Premier League.

Favorites to reach the Premier League:

Leicester City – aiming to return to the elite after a recent relegation.
Leeds United is a team with ambitions and a strong squad.
Southampton has consistently shown good results in the Premier League, but is now fighting for a comeback.
Norwich City is an experienced participant in the Championship, often rising to the Premier League.

Also among the potential contenders for the playoffs are West Bromwich, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.

Where is the Championship held?

Championship matches are held in stadiums throughout England and partly in Wales. Among the largest arenas of the tournament:

King Power Stadium (Leicester) – 32,312 seats.
Elland Road (Leeds) – 37,890 seats.
St Mary’s (Southampton) – 32,505 seats.
Riverside (Middlesbrough) – 34,742 seats.

Each club plays 23 home and 23 away matches, creating an unpredictable championship.

Interesting facts about the Championship

One of the most visited second divisions in the world. On average, about 20,000 spectators come to Championship matches, which makes it more popular than many of Europe’s elite leagues.
The playoff final is called the “most expensive match” in the world. The winner gets the right to play in the Premier League and receives hundreds of millions of pounds in television payments.
The Championship has given the world many top players. Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Jack Grealish all played in this division at one time.
The most titled club is Sunderland. The team has won the Championship 6 times.

History of the Tournament

The English Football League Championship was founded in 2004 to replace the Football League First Division. After the alterations, the Sunderland team won the first season of the Championships.

Coca-Cola was a sponsor of the Premier League until the 2009/2010 season.

From 2010, Npower was announced as the new title sponsor and from the 2010/2011 season the championship was called the Npower Championship.

From 2013, the Sky Bet betting company announced the signing of a five-year contract to sponsor the EFL Championship. The prefix Sky Bet appeared in the Football League’s name.