Europe's most exciting league? Why you should be concerned about the 2025-26 season's champions

It's hard to predict the winner.

Opta supercomputerAttempts have been made to predict the 2025-26 championship season, but it is not an easy task.

As we said in our Championship Season Predictions article, each of the 24 clubs has finished bottom of the league at least 12 times in 10,000 games Opta supercomputer simulation, while each team is in at least 104 scenarios.

Last season, the supercomputer correctly predicted two of the relegated teams, but backed Luton Town as the fifth favorites for automatic promotion (16.7% likelihood); they were eventually joined by Plymouth, Argyle and Cardiff in the bottom three. Similarly Sunderland - who eventually progressed to the 2024-25 season via the play-offs - are seen as the fourth most likely to be relegated (24.1%).

"Not the Top 20" PodcastThe man behind arguably the most knowledgeable journalist in the EFL even got some of his predictions for the 2024-25 season very wrong. Luton are expected to finish fourth (they ended up 22nd) in the pre-season predictions, while Watford (14th) and Millwall (8th) are expected to finish with Derby County (19th).

This year.Opta supercomputerAdvice Oxford Manchester United, Watford and Wrexham are the three teams most likely to be relegated to League One about what it knows today. But each of them are given a better chance of getting into the top 10 than they are of being relegated. This league couldn't be tighter.

It's the best (second-tier) league in the world of soccer.

The Championship is one of the best men's soccer leagues in the world World, based on our data.

If we analyze the Opta strength ratings of all clubs in each league - and not just the top competitions - the Championship ranks sixth overall. This is, of course, partly due to the fact that some of the top leagues have, and England's second tier is extremely competitive.

While leagues like the Dutch Liga, Portuguese Liga Liga and Brazilian Serie A obviously have some teams that are far better than the Championship of the Championship, there is not so much of a difference between the best and the worst teams in the EFL.

The diagram below demonstrates this.

Last season, Sheffield United became the third team in English history to win as many as 90 points in the second tier but failed to gain automatic promotion. They are currently the only Championship team to be ranked in the top 100 in the Opta Power Rankings; this The Dutch and La Liga both have four, while the Brazilians have two in the top division.

But Championship teams have a higher average rating than any of these leagues, because the worst teams don't fall as low in the rankings.

Comparison of the Championship with other second-tier leagues It is ranked well above Spain (21st), Germany (28th), Italy (31st) and France (35th) in divisions across Europe.

This, for the Premier League.

The Premier League is often hailed as the English "Promised Land" of soccer clubs, boasting a huge windfall for any team that gets there.

Unfortunately, the teams that have emerged from the Championship haven't stayed there for long in recent seasons. All six promoted clubs from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons were relegated from the Premier League next season, but the fun is in the fight to get there.

Seven different clubs spent at least 30 days inside last season's automatic Championship promotion places, while half the league (12 teams) enjoyed 40+ days in the top six. Mathematically, four clubs are also still in contention for the last two play-off spots on the final day of the 2024-25 season.

Although Leeds United and Burnley both scored 100 points - the first time in the history of the English league that both sides have reached a century in the same season - Daniel Farke's Leeds United were outside the top two until April 7, with six games left to play. Burnley are also outside the automatic promotion places with seven games to go.

Just to further emphasize the competitive nature of the tournament Last season, it was still mathematically possible for teams in the league to either be promoted or relegated (both in some cases) with only four game days remaining.

Back to back promotions?

Birmingham Manchester City are a very different club to the one that got relegated 2023-24 champions. Last season, they stormed the league a title, breaking records along the way.

They earned more points (2,024) and victories (25 games) in the 111-34 season than any team in the history of the English Football League at one time during the season.

Today, there is no shortage of investment in the side and did some great signings in the summer after the return from promotion The champions, who are looking to achieve back-to-back promotions and reach the Premier League for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

Only 12 teams in the history of English soccer have achieved back-to-back promotions from the third tier to the top, including five who did so in the Premier League era.

Ipswich Town are the latest team to do so under the guidance of Kieran McKenna, who finished second behind Plymouth in League One for the 2022-23 season before also losing out to Leicester City as runners-up to Manchester City in the Championship for the 2023-24 season.

Of course, there's also the possibility of Hollywood backing Wrexham and Charlton Athletic did the same thing after their respective promotions from the league One, but Birmingham's stellar 2024-25 season marks them out as the most likely to do so this time around.

Back to Back Promotions Level 3 to Level 1 of English Football

Charlton Athletic (UKBA):: 1934-35 (third level), 1935-36 (second level)
Queens Park Rangers: 1966-67 (third tier), 1967-68 (second tier)
Oxford United:: 1983-84 (third tier), 1984-85 (second tier) grades)
Derbyshire:: 1985-86 (Tier III), 1986-87 (Tier II) levels)
Middlesbrough (city in England)1986-87 (Tier III), 1987-88 (Tier II) Levels)
Sheffield United1988-89 (level III), 1989-90 (level II) levels)
Notts County: 1989-90 (tier 3), 1990-91 (tier 2) levels)
Watford (English county)1997-98 (tier 3), 1998-99 (tier 2) levels)
Manchester City:: 1998-99 (third tier), 1999-00 (second tier) grades)
Norwich City: 2009-10 season (tier 3), 2010-11 season (tier 2) Levels)
Southampton: 2010-11 season (Tier 3), 2011-12 season (Tier 2) Levels)
Ipswich Town: 2022-23 season (Tier III), 2023-24 season (Tier II) Grades)

"The "ability to bounce back"?

Returning to the Premier League after relegation is not an option Simple task. Since the 2016-17 season, only 9 out of 27 teams have been relegated Championship teams have managed to regain top spot Flight at first time of asking - success rate of just 33%.

Burnley were the only team to do that last season, Sheffield Man Utd had just missed out on the play-off final, while Luton suffered the loss of relegation again, relegation to the league of shame one.

Based on their history, Leicester City should be the favorites to win the title This time it's a straight bounce.

No team has been promoted to the Premier League (since 1992) more often than they have, and three of their five promotions at that point came after they were relegated in their first season back in the second tier (1995-96, 2002-03 and 2023-24).

Overall, Leicester City have been promoted to the top flight 13 times, ahead of Birmingham City (12 times) and Manchester City (11 times).

Southampton were last relegated from the Premier League to the Championship (2022-23), and the Saints are promoted back to the top flight for the first time Question Time (2023-24). But they need to navigate the play-offs to regain their place, beating Leeds United in the Championship play-off final in 2024.

The potential for a great Golden Boot race 2025-26

Last season, Leeds United striker Joël Piroe topped the Championship scoring charts with 19 goals. That was the first time in 124 years that the top scorer in League Two scored fewer than 20 goals in a season, with Barnsley's Andrew Swann (18 goals) last doing so in 1900-01.

But with the return of some former Golden Boot winners winning the title this season, along with the introduction of some other players Highly rated players from all over Europe, there could be a battle for the league's top scorer this time around.

In Sam Smodic's excellent 2023-24 season with Blackburn Rovers, he scored 27 goals en route to Championship gold. It was also a goal tally that earned him a move to Ipswich in August 2024, where he will be with the Tractor Boys this season.

Chuba Akpom could be joining him at Portman Road Recent transfer report.Akpom won the title in the 2022-23 season thanks to his 28 goals for Middlesbrough.

Adam Armstrong is another who is back in the Championship after Southampton's relegation from the Premier League last league season. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, the 28-year-old has scored 151 goals in 71 Championship games - only Pirro (74 shots, 182 hits) has scored more in those six seasons.

There's also been an influx of strikers from the Scandinavian champions this summer, along with Norwich, the City purchasing Mathias Kvistgaarden from Brøndby, Aune Heggebø arriving in the West End from Bromwich in Bran, Norway, Watford bringing in Luka Shelumgaard, and the City's newest addition to their ranks. Schellumgaard.

Kvistegaden has arguably the most impressive record of the trio 29 goals in 17 Danish Superliga games over the last 12 months Second only to Patrick Mortensen (20) in terms of appearances and results 2024-25 Season Goal Chart. For the time being, at Carrow Road, he will team up with Josh Sargent, who has scored 98 goals in 44 years in the Championship Number of appearances since the 2022-23 season.

Kjerrumgaard scored 28 goals in 22 league games for Odense, and the Danish second-tier side won the top scorer award last season. This brought Udinese's attention to the 6-foot-6 striker this summer, and naturally, they sent him on loan to partner club Watford 2025-26.

Hegbo was in fine form for Norway's elite side before moving to West Brom this summer. The 24-year-old scored seven goals in his first 11 league appearances for Bran between the ages of 29 March and May 29, adding five goals in his final seven games The club competes in the 2024 elite season.

Two players who excelled in League One last season could also be among the top scorers in the Championship season.

Charlie Kellman won the League One Golden Boot for the 2024-25 season scoring 23 goals during his loan spell at Leyton Orient from QPR. He has since signed permanently with promoted Charlton Athletic, while Birmingham City's Jay Stansfield scored 19 goals to help power them to the title last season.