Championship playoffs to expand to six teams? (Confirmed from next season, pg 3)
https://x.com/theathleticfc/status/2021296943234716147
Clubs in the English Football League are set to vote on plans to expand the Championship play-offs to six teams at an extraordinary general meeting on March 5.
The proposal would follow a similar format to the National League play-offs, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in one-off ties at the home ground of the higher finishing club.
The winners would then progress to a two-legged semi-final tie against the teams who finished in third and fourth, before the final at Wembley for a place in the Premier League.
The aim is to reduce the number of meaningless games towards the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7036443/2026/02/10/championship-playoffs-vote-efl/
Comments
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Can't say i agree with this, the National League play-offs are too convaluted. The first thing the EFL should do is have 3 up and 3 down between League 2 and the National League.24
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Money,money,money!!!7
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Got to be good news for us. More chance of finishing 8th than 6th next season.2
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Forgetting whether it helps us or not, it does not feel the right thing to do.19
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So you can get promoted by finishing 8th. That is bottom of the top quartile.Callumcafc said:https://x.com/theathleticfc/status/2021296943234716147
Clubs in the English Football League are set to vote on plans to expand the Championship play-offs to six teams at an extraordinary general meeting on March 5.The proposal would follow a similar format to the National League play-offs, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in one-off ties at the home ground of the higher finishing club.
The winners would then progress to a two-legged semi-final tie against the teams who finished in third and fourth, before the final at Wembley for a place in the Premier League.
The aim is to reduce the number of meaningless games towards the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7036443/2026/02/10/championship-playoffs-vote-efl/
Sounds like the Champions League where you qualify for finishing 4th.....or even 5th if certain conditions apply.
What next.......teams that get knocked out of the FA Cup in the 1st round have a mini knockout tournament to see who goes through to round 2 just so their season isnt over in November.
Please make it stop.22 -
Reckon this was being said when they suggested the current format mate🤷🏻♂️MuttleyCAFC said:Forgetting whether it helps us or not, it does not feel the right thing to do.2 -
This is the National League format and the side in third always comes in completely undercooked in terms of games compared to the others. Not a fan of this idea.0
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Crap idea0
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Utter woke nonsense14
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I think woke tosh is the politically correct phrasing mate.AFKABartram said:Utter woke nonsense4 -
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While it is ok in the NL with only one automatic promotion place, the idea of finishing 8th and getting to the Premier League feels ridiculous. I’d only support it if 5v8 and 6v7 took place at the grounds of 3 and 4 at midday and the winners stayed on to play 3 or 4.7
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Not even the top quartile that’s how it is now but bottom of the top third. The Championship is usually such a tightly contested league that most teams are still always in the play off mix even Southampton are making a late charge of it and they’ve been down the bottom for most of the season.golfaddick said:
So you can get promoted by finishing 8th. That is bottom of the top quartile.Callumcafc said:https://x.com/theathleticfc/status/2021296943234716147
Clubs in the English Football League are set to vote on plans to expand the Championship play-offs to six teams at an extraordinary general meeting on March 5.The proposal would follow a similar format to the National League play-offs, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in one-off ties at the home ground of the higher finishing club.
The winners would then progress to a two-legged semi-final tie against the teams who finished in third and fourth, before the final at Wembley for a place in the Premier League.
The aim is to reduce the number of meaningless games towards the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7036443/2026/02/10/championship-playoffs-vote-efl/
Sounds like the Champions League where you qualify for finishing 4th.....or even 5th if certain conditions apply.
What next.......teams that get knocked out of the FA Cup in the 1st round have a mini knockout tournament to see who goes through to round 2 just so their season isnt over in November.
Please make it stop.Feels like change for the sake of change hopefully it gets left alone.3 -
As the only team to ever stay in the top division via the playoffs, it would be fitting if we were the first team to get promoted to the top division after finishing 8th.7
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was this a bung from wrexham to still go up now it looks like they might miss out on a top 6 spot?3
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If it does go through, it will probably mean clubs chucking even more money at it to try and finish in the top 8, which they can’t afford, and will probably lead to more financial irregularities and points deductions in the future.3
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Be surprised if it doesn't go through. Lot of clubs will vote for the increased chance of fluking it to the prem3
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Terrible idea.
The National league play offs are shit with the early games only being one game instead of home/away.2 -
Trying to keep it interesting and staving off a PL2 with two divisions of 16/18…?0
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Dreadful idea so imagine it will go ahead. If the 8th team in the table manage to scrape through in the playoffs they'll be even more ill equipped for the PL than the usual winner.3
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Games gone.2
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Isn't 6th the bottom of the top quartile?golfaddick said:
So you can get promoted by finishing 8th. That is bottom of the top quartile.Callumcafc said:https://x.com/theathleticfc/status/2021296943234716147
Clubs in the English Football League are set to vote on plans to expand the Championship play-offs to six teams at an extraordinary general meeting on March 5.The proposal would follow a similar format to the National League play-offs, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in one-off ties at the home ground of the higher finishing club.
The winners would then progress to a two-legged semi-final tie against the teams who finished in third and fourth, before the final at Wembley for a place in the Premier League.
The aim is to reduce the number of meaningless games towards the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7036443/2026/02/10/championship-playoffs-vote-efl/
Sounds like the Champions League where you qualify for finishing 4th.....or even 5th if certain conditions apply.
What next.......teams that get knocked out of the FA Cup in the 1st round have a mini knockout tournament to see who goes through to round 2 just so their season isnt over in November.
Please make it stop.3 -
Terrible idea. The national league playoffs are wank compared to the EFL
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Of course. Why wouldn't you? Be crazy if a team like us voted against it.Alwaysneil said:Be surprised if it doesn't go through. Lot of clubs will vote for the increased chance of fluking it to the prem1 -
The change would be the worst for teams who finish 5th and 6th who would now have to play an extra game that they otherwise didn’t have to.
Teams in 3rd and 4th won’t have the same problem, making it even more critical to finish as high up as possible. It would be a big bonus for the team in 3rd if they ended up against 8th rather than 6th for example.0 -
kinveachyaddick said:Got to be good news for us. More chance of finishing 8th than 6th next season.
Basically guarantees the mob from Bermondsey a spot though0 -
golfaddick said:
So you can get promoted by finishing 8th. That is bottom of the top quartile.Callumcafc said:https://x.com/theathleticfc/status/2021296943234716147
Clubs in the English Football League are set to vote on plans to expand the Championship play-offs to six teams at an extraordinary general meeting on March 5.The proposal would follow a similar format to the National League play-offs, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in one-off ties at the home ground of the higher finishing club.
The winners would then progress to a two-legged semi-final tie against the teams who finished in third and fourth, before the final at Wembley for a place in the Premier League.
The aim is to reduce the number of meaningless games towards the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7036443/2026/02/10/championship-playoffs-vote-efl/
Sounds like the Champions League where you qualify for finishing 4th.....or even 5th if certain conditions apply.
What next.......teams that get knocked out of the FA Cup in the 1st round have a mini knockout tournament to see who goes through to round 2 just so their season isnt over in November.
Please make it stop.
Sorry to be a pedant, but 8th is bottom of the top tertile, not quartile
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Didn't Arsenal get promoted after finishing 13th?killerandflash said:As the only team to ever stay in the top division via the playoffs, it would be fitting if we were the first team to get promoted to the top division after finishing 8th.0 -
Such a shit idea. Just purely about TV revenue at the expense of any kind of sporting integrity.
Exactly the same as what happened in the NBA. Ever increasing playoff spots to avoid dead rubbers and increase the number of televised 'playoff' games. Now they have the 'play ins' down to tenth place in each conference, which means after a 92 game season all that matters is whether you've avoided being bottom five out of fifteen teams in your conference. What is the fucking point of the league, just go straight to the knock out with everyone. Or just shoot me.4 -
No thanks. There is too much 'churn' in the divisions as it is. Might give weaker, clubs more of a promotion chance, but IF they were to get promoted, the odds are they'd come straight back down after having spent money they could ill afford on players in an attempt to stay up and prosper0
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How about to give all clubs an equal chance of promotion they use in a format in which every club plays each other home and away.
The top couple of teams could get promoted, the bottom 3 relegated. Maybe have a mini knock out tournament for the third promotion place for a bit more drama and excitement.
Controversial maybe, but I think it would be quite a fair way to compare performance over a whole season.12
