There’s been a big change to the Championship play-offs.
The Championship play-offs is arguably the biggest end-of-season tournament in the world. The final is known as the richest game in football.
It’s a format first introduced in 1987, and initially included a team in the then-named First Division. Two years later, it only involved four Second Division teams.
There have been minor changes across the years, but the biggest ones are on the way.
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In this article, we’ll cover:
What are the 2026-27 Championship play-off changes?
From the 2026-27 season, there will now be six teams in the play-offs.
“Following several months of discussion with clubs and other stakeholders, we are confident this change will further strengthen the Championship as a competition and give more clubs and their supporters a genuine opportunity of achieving promotion,” EFL chief executive Trevor Birch said of the decision.
EFL clubs voted for the decision, though there has been mixed reactions from fans.
The new format is similar to the play-off system used in the National League, in terms of who plays who. Four teams will enter what is known as eliminator ties, for a spot in the semi-finals.
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While the final format will be agreed later this year, fifth would be expected to play eighth, while sixth play seventh. The winners of those two single-legged ties will faced the third-placed and fourth-placed teams in the semi-finals.
That will continue as two-legged ties as normal, with the two winners meeting in the one-off final at Wembley.
How have the fifth and sixth play-off teams fared in the National League?
As mentioned, the National League have a similar format with a round before the semi-finals, first brought in in 2017-18. Although they simply call them the quarter-finals. And all play-off fixtures are single-legged.
But they do give the sixth and seventh-best teams a chance to gain promotion (with only one automatic qualifying spot). Much like the Championship, finishing in the highest non-automatic qualifying spot doesn’t always mean a good run in the play-offs.
But how often do the fifth and sixth play-off teams go all the way?
Grimsby Town were the only team outside the top four play-off places to gain promotion, doing so in 2021-22. The Mariners finished sixth in the league, beating fifth-placed Notts County, second-placed Wrexham and then third-placed Solihull Moors to gain promotion to League Two.