Football Feb 16, 2026

Championship play-offs: EFL likely to opt for six-team expanded format in 2026/27 ahead of general meeting

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Sports Journalist
Championship play-offs: EFL likely to opt for six-team expanded format in 2026/27 ahead of general meeting

The Championship play-offs are likely to include six teams for the first time from next season, Your Site News understands.

All EFL clubs will take part in an extraordinary general meeting on March 5, where there will be a vote to decide the new format. We've been told there is widespread support for the idea among Championship clubs.

The EFL has held an extensive consultation process since Your Site News first reported that the idea had been discussed by the EFL Board in the autumn.

The concept is very popular in the Championship, despite the Premier League having some concerns that it might dilute the quality of teams ultimately being promoted to the top division. Under the new system, it would mean a team finishing eighth in the Championship could still go on to win promotion.

The FA had already given its approval for the EFL to proceed at the end of last year, it is understood.

If the vote goes through next month, there would be an extra "eliminator round" at the end of the Championship season, similar to the system already in place in the National League, which feeds into the EFL.

The fifth-placed team would play the eighth-placed team, and the sixth-placed team would face the seventh-placed team in a one-off match at the higher-ranked team's home.

The winners of those ties would then progress to face the clubs who finished third and fourth in the semi-finals, before the usual playoff final at Wembley to decide which one team goes up.

There will not yet be a vote to replicate the new playoff format in League One and Two, but it is expected that is likely to follow in the next few years, if the system is adopted in the Championship, and there is support with clubs further down the pyramid.

For the vote to be carried, it requires a majority of clubs in the Championship to agree (13 of the 24) and also a majority of the entire EFL clubs to vote in favour too (37 of the 72 clubs).

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