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Championship playoffs to expand to six teams? (Confirmed from next season, pg 3)
Comments
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Yeah of course the games still have to be played.killerandflash said:
It doesn't always work like that. The lower teams can get real momentum from winning their first game, e.g. in the NL playoffs last season, where the final was between 2 of the teams playing the QF.Callumcafc said: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.
There’s been 2 or 3 instances in almost 10 years of that format where the extra team has made it to the final. And on one occasion that team has won (Grimsby 2024). It will happen less often in a system where the semi-finals are two legged affairs and the better teams have 180 minutes to overcome an opponent.
I don’t expect the change to make a significant difference to the actual results of the playoffs so pretty pointless overall, other than a bit of extra money for the EFL.
If someone is anti the expansion because it could result in a team who don’t deserve promotion being promoted, it’s not much of a stretch to say they should also oppose the format as it already exists and go straight to a three up, three down format.3 -
I think the current format is slightly flawed in that the team finishing third plays the team finishing sixth who could have finished say 12 points behind them. I think in such an instance it should be a one off game between them with, obviously, the team finishing third being at home. There needs to be a reward for consistency over the season.Callumcafc said:
Yeah of course the games still have to be played.killerandflash said:
It doesn't always work like that. The lower teams can get real momentum from winning their first game, e.g. in the NL playoffs last season, where the final was between 2 of the teams playing the QF.Callumcafc said: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.
There’s been 2 or 3 instances in almost 10 years of that format where the extra team has made it to the final. And on one occasion that team has won (Grimsby 2024). It will happen less often in a system where the semi-finals are two legged affairs and the better teams have 180 minutes to overcome an opponent.
I don’t expect the change to make a significant difference to the actual results of the playoffs so pretty pointless overall, other than a bit of extra money for the EFL.
If someone is anti the expansion because it could result in a team who don’t deserve promotion being promoted, it’s not much of a stretch to say they should also oppose the format as it already exists and go straight to a three up, three down format.
Ultimately the current system works well so why the need to mend something that isn't broken.0 -
Why can't football just be left alone ffs 😒4
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Americanisation of the sport. Not a fan.
If this goes through, we'll witness further, gradual changes inspired by the American way and before you know it, football will be a much different game to watch and play for future generations.
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Football already is very different compared to when I was young. Just watch The Big Match revisited on ITV4. What a joy it is the watch players with their hands by their sides rather than grappling, pushing and shoving the opposition. I even heard a commentator the other day refer to ’an acceptable level of holding.’ For me, ’acceptable ’ is zero.
If they want to give two more play off places, give them to the two teams top of a fair play table based on a count of holding, shirt pulling and diving (ooooopss, sorry ’simulation’)2 -
Please give your views on this via CAST's two minute survey - results will be shared with the club ahead of the vote
Clubs will vote at an EFL meeting in early March on a possible change to the Championship play-off format from next season adding two more teams, down to eighth in the table at the end of the league season.
The new proposal, according to The Athletic, would mean the team that finishes fifth plays the eighth-placed team and sixth meets 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.
We'd like to get the views of Addicks fans on these proposals and will share the results with the club ahead of the vote. This survey is open to all Charlton fans for a week and takes just two minutes to complete so please do it now:
At Charlton we have a fantastic record in play-off finals - victors four times and lifelong memories banked. However, we also know from experience that the season in the higher division after promotion brings specific challenges given the size of the step up and limited time to prepare - we're in the midst of that right now of course.
Please take two minutes to give your views before 28 February. We will share the findings with the club and the results will be published on castrust website and shared on social media.
Take the survey here:
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Expanded.
Championship play-offs: EFL confirms expansion from four to six teams from 2026/27 season onwards
https://www.skysports.com/share/13515549
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Would have been more shocked if it would have not gone through. Owners want Premier League football and this gives them more of an opportunity4
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It really is unlikely to change much in terms of who ends up getting promoted anyway but it is a shame to see the EFL squeezing as much as they can (yet still tiny amount) out of things while pissing off a significant number of fans.3
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WSS said:Expanded.
Championship play-offs: EFL confirms expansion from four to six teams from 2026/27 season onwards
https://www.skysports.com/share/13515549Saying it would distinguish the quality of the Premier League, doubt that given the teams over the past few years.0 -
Joke decision, if it aint broke dont fix it4
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Guarantees spurs get a play off spot.26
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They’ll never do it as they want to protect themselves but I’d love the EFL to publish the votes for these things, think clubs would feel the need to engage with fans a bit more that way13
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No surprise whatsoever, my 1st post on this was, Money,money,money and here we are.1
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Sky Bet EFL Play-Offs Format – 2026/27
- The Play-Offs in the Championship will consist of seven fixtures
- The two winners of the eliminator ties will progress to the semi-finals (against the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the table). These games will be played over two legs.
- The two winning semi-finalists will meet in the Championship Play-Off final.
- The exact final format will be agreed later in 2026.
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fenaddick said:They’ll never do it as they want to protect themselves but I’d love the EFL to publish the votes for these things, think clubs would feel the need to engage with fans a bit more that wayAgreed. In fact the FSA's position was neither for or against, just that there should have been consultation with fans.Not that it would have made any difference and I expect the vote would have been close to if not unanimous.4
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Split into quarters with three timeouts each side each half and a half time show in the middle of it?clive said:Sky Bet EFL Play-Offs Format – 2026/27
- The Play-Offs in the Championship will consist of seven fixtures
- The two winners of the eliminator ties will progress to the semi-finals (against the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the table). These games will be played over two legs.
- The two winning semi-finalists will meet in the Championship Play-Off final.
- The exact final format will be agreed later in 2026.
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What does this even mean? They've just explained the format, what other 'format' can there be?clive said:Sky Bet EFL Play-Offs Format – 2026/27
- The Play-Offs in the Championship will consist of seven fixtures
- The two winners of the eliminator ties will progress to the semi-finals (against the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the table). These games will be played over two legs.
- The two winning semi-finalists will meet in the Championship Play-Off final.
- The exact final format will be agreed later in 2026.
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They probably mean in terms of which elimination final winners play which side in the semi finals.Callumcafc said:
Split into quarters with three timeouts each side each half and a half time show in the middle of it?clive said:Sky Bet EFL Play-Offs Format – 2026/27
- The Play-Offs in the Championship will consist of seven fixtures
- The two winners of the eliminator ties will progress to the semi-finals (against the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the table). These games will be played over two legs.
- The two winning semi-finalists will meet in the Championship Play-Off final.
- The exact final format will be agreed later in 2026.
You'd think the lower-ranked side going through should play 3rd but they may decide to set in stone that the winner of 5 v 8 plays 4th and winner of 6 v 7 plays 3rd, with the thinking being that if the higher-ranked side wins each elimination final (with home advantage in a one-off tie) you'd be back to 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 which is what we normally have.1 -
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As if anybody would expect the clubs to actually listen to the fans.6
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It all stinks of making sure Wrexham get in….2
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With the amount of American investment and ownership in English football, this is no surprise. American sports are all built around playoffs, not winning a league.5
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Ooh, does that mean that the next time we win the play-offs we can call ourselves 'World Champions'?JoshrewCAFC said:With the amount of American investment and ownership in English football, this is no surprise. American sports are all built around playoffs, not winning a league.2 -
The irony of that comment is that they were 'victims' of this set up in the National League playoffs , when Grimsby took the last slot and beat Wrexham on their way to promotion.ValleyGary said:It all stinks of making sure Wrexham get in….4 -
PL1 and PL2 with 12 teams each in the next five years. Rest of the pyramid regionalised.1
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Stay up this year, and whose knows Rodney we could be millionaires in 2027-2028.5
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WSS said:PL1 and PL2 with 12 teams each in the next five years. Rest of the pyramid regionalised told to Foxtrot Oscar.
Fixed it for you.0 -
Clearly I'm in the minority here but assuming we manage to stay up this year then perhaps the carrot of only needing 66 points to get in the play-offs might persuade the owners to invest in the summer more than they would have done otherwise.2
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Not sure why so many are against this.
The current play offs are great. 2 legged semi finals and then a final Wembley. We still have all of those things, but we now have an extra round that will make the end of the league season much more exciting and have less dead rubbers
Just look at the league table now, would be a crazy finish to the season for loads of teams trying to get to 8th, most of which will instead play out quite a boring next 2 months instead5
