We’ve reached the decisive moments of the 2023/24 EFL Championship season and the race to win promotion to the Premier League.
Leicester City have already secured their place back in England’s top flight for 2024/25 as champions of the second tier, but the second automatic promotion place, plus the makeup of the playoffs, are yet to be confirmed.
Leeds United and Ipswich Town are locked in a battle to finish in the top two, with Southampton now mathematically out of the running. Those three were all guaranteed at least a playoff place as of April 29, but there’s a real scrap going on for fifth and sixth place.
In total, three teams will earn promotion to the Premier League in 2024, replacing three sides who will be relegated from the top flight. The pedigree and riches on offer for teams competing in England’s top men’s division make the Championship promotion race one of the most exciting in European football.
The Sporting News has the latest on which teams are going up, and when the 2024 playoffs will take place.
MORE: Reliving Leicester City’s incredible Premier League title win
Teams promoted to Premier League 2024
Leicester City became the first team to secure promotion to the Premier League in the 2023/24 season. They were guaranteed to finish in the top two as a result of Leeds United’s shock 4-0 loss to QPR on April 26, and they were crowned champions three days later after winning 3-0 at Preston North End.
Leeds sit second in the table and are certain of a playoff place, as are Ipswich Town in third and Southampton in fourth. Ipswich have a game in hand on Leeds, giving them the edge in the race for the top two: if they take a minimum of four points from their final two games, they will be promoted.
The final two playoff places will be filled by two of West Brom, Norwich City, and Hull City. Hull’s dramatic draw with Ipswich means they can still take sixth place, although they will need to beat Plymouth Argyle and hope West Brom lose to Preston North End on the final day.
Championship table after matches on April 29, 2024
Pos. Team GP W D L GS GA GD Pts 1. Leicester City – Y 45 31 4 10 89 39 +50 97 2. Leeds United – Z 45 27 9 9 80 41 +39 90 Top two are promoted automatically 3. Ipswich Town – Z 44 26 12 6 88 56 +32 90 4. Southampton – Z 45 25 9 11 85 62 +23 84 5. Norwich City – Z 45 21 10 14 79 63 +16 73 6. West Brom 45 20 12 13 67 47 +20 72 Teams from 3rd to 6th qualify for playoffs 7. Hull City 45 19 13 13 68 59 +9 70
Y – secured automatic promotion to Premier League
Z – assured of a playoff spot
Leicester City promoted to Premier League as champions
Leicester City became the first team in this season’s Championship to win promotion to the Premier League.
They celebrated without even kicking a ball on April 26: Leeds’ shock 4-0 loss at QPR meant the Foxes were guaranteed to finish in the top two positions in the table. A 3-0 win away to Preston North End on April 29 meant they were officially crowned champions of England’s second tier.
Leicester were relegated from the top division last year along with Leeds and Southampton, just seven years after their miraculous Premier League title triumph. They took a gamble before 2023/24 started by appointing Enzo Maresca as manager — the former Juventus and Sevilla midfielder had just six months’ experience as a head coach on his resume and had spent the previous season as an assistant under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Yet the appointment proved a masterstroke. Maresca restored a positive, proactive brand of football to Leicester, leading them to 30 wins from their opening 44 league games of the season. If they win their final match, they will become the first club in Championship history to reach the 100-point mark in a single season on two occasions.
MORE: The full, updated EFL Championship standings for 2023/24
When are the EFL Championship playoffs 2024 and how do they work?
The final day of the regular Championship season is Saturday, May 4, when all 24 teams will kick off at the same time (12:30 p.m. local time/7:30 a.m. ET).
The teams who finish third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the table will then contest the promotion playoffs. This is effectively a small-scale elimination tournament, with two two-legged semifinals and a final to decide who earns a place in the Premier League for next season.
At the semifinal stage, the team that ends the regular season in third will face the team that finished sixth, while fourth place will meet third place. The first legs of the semifinals take place on May 12 and May 13, with the return fixtures on May 16 and May 17.
The Championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium is on Sunday, May 26.
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