Championship Playoff Predictions 2025/26: Who Will Go Up?

Analysis of the current Championship playoff race with form tables, remaining fixtures and expert predictions. Include a predictions table and historical data on how teams finishing in different positions have fared in the playoffs. Timely for April as the race reaches its peak. Pairs naturally with existing Championship content.

Just a few games of the Championship season remain. Coventry City are clear at the top and closing in on automatic promotion. Below them, four clubs are fighting for one automatic spot, and a further three or four are still in contention for the playoffs. One team from the Welsh borders is trying to complete one of the most extraordinary rises English football has ever seen. 

Here is how the race looks heading into the final stretch.

Who are the favourites to win the EFL Championship?

Coventry City have been the dominant force in the division since October, and Frank Lampard's side are now within touching distance of ending the club's 25-year absence from the top flight. Eleven points clear with six games to play, automatic promotion is close to confirmed. Their recent form, which includes a win over Derby County and a draw at Hull City, suggests a side that has learned to manage the pressure of being runaway leaders.

Below them, Ipswich Town have pushed firmly into second place after beating Birmingham City on April 6, and Kieran McKenna's side now have games in hand over their rivals. The race for second is between Ipswich, Millwall, and Middlesbrough. Alex Neil's Millwall dropped points at home to Norwich on April 6 but remain in the top three. Kim Hellberg's Middlesbrough drew at Swansea on the same night and are fighting to stay in the conversation.

The minimum points total for automatic promotion has been 88, 91, 96 and 100 in the last four seasons. This year the bar looks likely to come in lower given how closely bunched the chasing pack have been, but any side finishing second will need somewhere in the low-to-mid eighties at least.

Which Championship teams are going up?

All projections suggest Coventry and Ipswich are set to go up automatically, with Millwall, Middlesbrough, Hull City and Southampton filling the four playoff spots. 

In the relegation zone, Leicester City are fighting the consequences of their six-point PSR deduction while Sheffield Wednesday, docked eighteen points in total this season, were relegated some weeks ago. Oxford United, Portsmouth and Blackburn Rovers are also in danger, with only a handful of points separating them from safety. Bristol City, Stoke City and Sheffield United have all done enough to make the drop unlikely.

Our predictions for the 2025/26 Championship playoffs

The playoff format places third against sixth and fourth against fifth over two legs, with the higher-placed side hosting the second leg. Third place has won the Championship playoff in roughly 37% of cases since the format was introduced. Sixth place last won in 2009/10 when Blackpool beat Cardiff at Wembley. In the last ten seasons no sixth-placed side has been promoted.

On current form, a Middlesbrough and Millwall final looks the most likely outcome. Millwall's defensive resilience and their ability to win in high-pressure games makes them difficult to move over two legs. Hull's attacking quality gives them every chance of a run in, and Southampton's late-season form could carry them further than their position suggests.

What does Wrexham need for promotion?

Phil Parkinson's side are currently seventh, outside the top six after losing 5-1 to Southampton on April 7. Three points separate them from sixth place with six games remaining. The maths makes promotion achievable, but the schedule is unforgiving. West Brom away is followed by a home game against Coventry City, then Middlesbrough at the Racecourse Ground on the final day.

Wrexham were playing in the National League as recently as 2023. Three consecutive promotions have taken them from non-league football to the Championship in the space of three seasons. A top-six finish here would send them to Wembley with a shot at the Premier League. In footballing terms it would have no parallel in the modern English game. They still have a chance. It requires results to fall for them and points on the board from their remaining games. 

The Championship run-in starts now

Automatic promotion, playoff spots and relegation battles are all still to be decided. Download now and follow the closing weeks of one of the most competitive Championship seasons in years.