The Championship play-offs offer end-of-season excitement for fans across England, with four teams battling it out to see who can secure the ultimate prize of promotion to the Premier League. With the winner getting the opportunity to play against some of the biggest clubs in the world, as well as seeing a huge increase in revenue thanks to the lucrative TV deals on offer, it is the sweetest way to end a long and arduous campaign.
The 2023/24 Championship campaign is starting to heat up, with a whole host of teams still in with a chance of reaching the play-offs, while the automatic promotion picture far from certain.
Nevertheless, with weeks flying by and points being picked up left, right and centre, Football FanCast has taken a look ahead at the details concerning the upcoming 2024 EFL Championship play-offs.
How the Championship play-offs work
The Championship play-offs consist of two semi-finals; the team who finish in third play the team finishing in sixth, while the team finishing in fourth plays the team who finished fifth.
One team advances from each semi-final tie, which is settled over two legs home and away, with the team leading on aggregate after 180 minutes of football (or more) advancing to the final. The team who finished lower will be at home for the first leg, whilst the team who finished higher will be at home for the deciding return leg.
Should there be a tie in scoring after 180 minutes of football, the match will be settled via extra time and possibly even penalties if the score is still level following an additional 30 minutes.
Whoever comes out on top in both ties will then meet at Wembley Stadium to do battle for the Championship play-offs trophy and promotion to the Premier League. Extra time and penalties are required if both teams are tied at the end of 90 minutes, with the losing team staying in the Championship.
Who makes the play-offs in the Championship
Four teams will make it into the Championship play-offs for the 2023/24 season, and things are starting to heat up.
At the time of writing, Leicester City and Ipswich Town occupy the automatic promotion places and look most likely to be playing their football in the top flight next season, particularly the Foxes. However, the likes of Southampton and Leeds United aren’t far behind and could sneak their way in, with plenty of games still to go.
In terms of the play-offs, there are only ten points separating 19th-placed Plymouth Argyle from 6th-placed Coventry City, so anyone can stake their claim with a good remainder of the season, which is what makes this league so exciting.
|
Championship table (as of 14th January 2024) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
GD |
PTS |
|
1st |
Leicester City |
27 |
21 |
2 |
4 |
+34 |
65 |
|
2nd |
Ipswich Town |
27 |
17 |
7 |
3 |
+16 |
58 |
|
3rd |
Southampton |
27 |
16 |
7 |
4 |
+19 |
55 |
|
4th |
Leeds United |
27 |
15 |
6 |
6 |
+23 |
51 |
|
5th |
West Bromwich Albion |
27 |
13 |
6 |
8 |
+15 |
45 |
|
6th |
Coventry City |
27 |
10 |
10 |
7 |
+12 |
40 |
2024 Championship play-off dates
The 2023/24 Championship play-offs will be held in May 2024, once the regular season has come to an end. The regular season is due to finish on 4th May, with the play-offs ordinarily taking place in the subsquent week, with the return legs being held a few days later.
The semi-final dates are due to finalised nearer the time, though it’s worth noting last year’s were held between 13th-17th May, following the conclusion of the regular season on 8th May 2023.
|
Championship play-off final 2023/24 |
|
|---|---|
|
Date |
26th May 2024 |
|
Time |
TBC |
|
Venue |
Wembley Stadium |
|
Capacity |
90,000 |
It has already been announced that the 2023/24 Championship play-off final will take place on 26th May. The kick-off time in the 2022/2023 Championship play-off final was 4:45 pm, but nothing has been confirmed yet for this year.
The play-off final is part of a busy summer programme for the national stadium, with Wembley also hosting the Champions League final on 1st June.
Where to watch 2024 Championship play-offs on UK TV and live-stream
The Championship play-offs will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, as well as Sky Go if you’re looking for online streaming.
However, if you’re based in the US, Championship play-off games are available to watch and stream live on ESPN+ and the ESPN network.
How and where to buy Championship play-off semi-final tickets
Official information on tickets are exepcted to be released towards the end of April, once the participating teams have been determined. With plans and announcements coming from the club’s official website and social media accounts.
If it’s anything like last season, Luton Town released their ticket information on 27th April 2023.
The way Luton structured the home ticket windows is very similar to how most clubs operate nowadays, with season ticket holders getting first dibs to secure their own seat for the game. At a later date, a further sales plan was announced for Members and then General Sale tickets. Away tickets were also distributed in an similar manner.
There is the possibility of buying tickets on reselling sites, but there’s no guarantee that these are official and the price will be substantially more than the general sale price from clubs.
How and where to buy Championship play-off final tickets
As many fans will know, any kind of major final involves a lot of corporate tickets being handed out, which unfortunately reduces the allocation for both clubs competing in the final.
Last year, Luton were allocated 36,493 tickets for the East End of Wembley Stadium. Meanwhile, Coventry were allocated 36,237.
Of course, ticket information will be released once the clubs in the final are known, but due to the large volume of tickets needed to be sold and dispatched in such a short space of time, and following advice from the EFL, Luton used Ticketmaster to sell play-off final tickets last year, so clubs this year may follow suit after it proved a success.
Similar to the semi-finals, there were three windows that Luton opted for:
|
Ticketing window |
Info |
|---|---|
|
Period 1 |
All 22/23 Season Card Holders and Executive members and anyone holding a 22/23 Hatters Membership |
|
Period 2 |
Supporters with a booking history of at least 5 league or cup fixtures 22/23 season |
|
Period 3 |
Supporters with a Client reference number and a previous purchasing history on the Club database |
How much the Championship play-off final is worth
Often referred to as ‘the richest game in football’, the play-off final is worth huge amounts of money for the winner as they get the chance to progress to one of the biggest and best leagues in the world.
Prior to the 2020 Championship play-off final, Deloitte reported that the winners of the Championship play-offs could earn prize money of anywhere between £135m and £265m, depending on whether or not they could avoid immediate relegation from the Premier League.
The 2023 Championship play-off final
Following the conclusion of the 2022/23 Championship regular season, Luton Town, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland battled it out for a place in the Premier League.
Luton ended up coming back from a first-leg deficit to book their place in the Championship play-off final with a 3-2 aggregate win over Sunderland. Meanwhile, Coventry earned their place in the final with a narrow 1-0 aggregate win over Boro.
And the final didn’t disappoint as a packed Wembley Stadium laid witness to a 6-5 penalty shootout win for Luton after both sides were stuck at 1-1 at the end of normal and extra time.