2026-27 Sky Bet Championship Season Preview

Guide to everything that you need to know ahead of the 2026-27 Sky Bet Championship season.

With the new Championship season within sight, there is plenty of hype with plenty of teams expected to fight for promotion this season, with West Ham, Burnley and Wolves headlining the contenders whilst Lincoln City, Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers look to spring a surprise following their promotions.

Middlesbrough and Millwall meanwhile will seek to use their play-off heartbreak of last season to mount another promotion challenge, whilst Southampton seek to overcome a four-point deduction to achieve a top-flight return after their 2025-26 campaign ended in controversy.

The second-tier though is a notorious league to get out of with many promotion, play-off and relegation battles having gone to the final day over the years, underlining how unpredictable yet competitive this season could be.

Now, here is a guide to everything that you need to know about the 2026-27 Championship.

When will 2026-27 Championship Season Start and Finish?

The regular season will start on Friday 14 August 2026 and conclude on Saturday 1 May 2027.

Promotion Play-Offs will follow in May with exact scheduling details to be announced nearer the time.

How Many Teams will be Involved?

The following 24 teams will participate in the Championship this season.

Lincoln City, Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers won promotion from League One at conclusion of last season.

How does Championship Work?

Championship contains 24 teams who will play each other home and away across 46 matches.

The team who collects the most points (win – three points, draw – one point, loss – zero points) will be crowned champion and promoted to Premier League at end of season, alongside the second-placed team.

There however is a format change to the Play-Offs this season in the Championship, meaning that those ranked third to eighth will be involved, with the third and fourth-placed clubs receiving a bye to the semi-finals which will remain as two-legged ties.

Those ranked fifth to eighth will instead go into the new Eliminator phase which consists of two single-legged ties, with the fifth and eighth-placed teams meeting each other whilst the sixth-placed team will take on the seventh-placed team.

The third-placed team will then face the lowest-ranked winner of the eliminators in the semi-final, whilst the other eliminator winner will face the fourth-placed side, with the third and fourth-placed clubs still retaining the advantage of second leg at home in the semi-finals.

The semi-final winners will then meet in the Play-Off Final to determine the final team to gain promotion to the top-tier.

Whoever finishes in the bottom three positions will be relegated to League One for next season.

How to Watch Championship in 2026-27 Season

Selected Championship fixtures throughout will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, whilst certain matches will be streamed live on Sky Sports + this season on Saturdays at 12:30pm.

Every match across opening weekend, midweek (except Tuesday 29 December which is a designated weekend round for TV purposes), holiday and on the final day will be available on Sky Sports + for streaming, alongside games chosen for live broadcast on Sky Sports Football.

Sky will have exclusive live coverage of the play-offs.

ITV will also show ten games across the regular season on a pick-per-month basis – although they will receive a double pick in March or April, due to Sky having the final day of the season on 1 May exclusively.