The 2025/26 Championship season is underway.
The ever chaotic and dramatic second division in English football is set for another wild instalment over the next nine months or so, with some fascinating stories set to unfold at both ends of the table.
Let's take a look at the latest betting and odds for the EFL Championship.
Championship predictions 2025/26: Title winners
The teams coming down from the Premier League are often the biggest stories heading into any Championship season, especially when the trio includes a team that was beginning a Premier League title-winning campaign 10 years ago in Leicester City.
Ipswich Town and Southampton will be expected to go better of the three, as the Foxes deal with the potential punishments that may come their way for financial issues.
However, it is perhaps the teams coming up from League One that may well hog the limelight early on as big spending Birmingham City, backed by a consortium that consists of Tom Brady, seek to return to the top-flight.
All eyes are also on how Wrexham can fare in the Championship, having been a non-league team as recently as 2023, with their Hollywood owners of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds. But the Dragons' early hopes look to have suffered a blow after a slow start and they could be more among the relegation than the promotion picture if the early going is any kind of guide.
Here's the current leading contenders to win the title.
| Ipswich | 9/2 |
| Birmingham | 5/1 |
| Southampton | 6/1 |
| Coventry | 8/1 |
| Middlesbrough | 9/1 |
| Leicester | 12/1 |
| West Brom | 12/1 |
| Stoke | 16/1 |
| Sheffield United | 16/1 |
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Championship predictions 2025/26: Top six & promotion contenders
On the final day of last season, Coventry City defeated Middlesbrough to finish sixth and make it into the play-off places. Both sides will once again be likely to compete for the top six, with Frank Lampard experiencing an unbeaten start to his first full season in charge.
Rob Edwards, who led Luton Town to their unlikely promotion, has replaced Michael Carrick at Middlesbrough, and the Boro squad would appear well suited to his style.
As well as those now perennial top-six challengers and candidates, two other clubs with new managers appear most likely to be among the runners and riders.
Liam Manning, who took Bristol City into the play-offs last season, is now in charge of a Norwich City side that have invested heavily this summer, while Ryan Mason is in his first managerial role at West Bromwich Albion.
Here's the latest top-six finish odds
| Ipswich | 4/9 |
| Birmingham | 4/7 |
| Southampton | 8/13 |
| Coventry | 8/11 |
| Middlesbrough | 6/5 |
| Leicester | 6/4 |
| West Brom | 11/8 |
| Sheffield United | 13/8 |
| Norwich City | 2/1 |
| Millwall | 11/4 |
| Stoke City | 9/4 |
| Bristol City | 3/1 |
| Swansea | 5/1 |
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Who will win promotion from the Championship this season? Back your pick here with Bet365
Championship predictions 2025/26: Relegation candidates
The teams coming up should make it an even more intriguing relegation battle than usual, with Wrexham likely to continue to invest, while Nathan Jones's Charlton Athletic are expected to prove difficult to beat.
Oxford United now have Gary Rowett at the helm, and will be confident of another survival.
Two teams that will be concerned will be Preston North End and Sheffield Wednesday, who will be fearing the worst from the likely competitive and congested battle.
Preston collapsed towards the end of the season and only managed to survive on the final day of the season, though fears of a poor campaign have been eased by a strong start.
Wednesday, on the other hand, are shrouded in off-field uncertainty due to ownership issues, and are only being propped up by rivals Sheffield United at the bottom of the table.
Bet 5p to get £30 in free bets with Sky Bet for the 2025/26 season
When is the start and end date of the Championship season 2025/26?
The 2025/26 Championship season got underway on the weekend of August 8-10 2025.
There are 46 rounds of league matches scheduled across 33 weekends, with nine midweeks and four Bank Holidays on the agenda in the Championship.
The season is scheduled to finish on the weekend of May 2/3rd, with the Championship play-off final 25/26 slated for Saturday, May 23, 2026.
How to watch the Championship 2025/26 season
The Championship season is available to watch in the U.K. via Sky Sports, who will screen over 1,000 EFL games across the Championship, League One, League Two and the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.
Matches will be shown on Sky Sports or the Sky Sports+ streaming service, which is also available to all Sky Sports subscribers or through NOW TV.
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