EFL clubs will cast their vote on expanding the Championship play-offs from four to six teams when they meet on Thursday morning.
The proposal mirrors the National League’s model, but the top two teams in England’s second tier will still secure automatic promotion to the Premier League. The play-off spots would extend to teams finishing between third and eighth place.
The vote requires a majority vote in favour after all EFL clubs have their say, alongside a separate majority among Championship clubs, to be brought into place.
The fifth-tier in England – step one of non-league, the National League, already has a six-team play-off format, which sees clubs finishing fourth and seventh, and fifth and sixth, face off in single-leg eliminators.
The winners of these games then progress to join the second and third-placed teams in the semi-finals.
This could be how the Championship chooses to operate if the vote is passed, but instead with the clubs who finish fifth and eighth, and sixth and seventh, facing off in eliminators before going through to the standard two-legged semi-finals against the sides who finish in third and fourth place.
While all 72 EFL clubs have a say on Thursday morning, it will come down to what the current Championship sides think.
If all 48 non-Championship clubs vote in favour of the movement, there will then be a vote among the second-tier clubs to pass the motion.
For clubs like Bristol City, Preston North End, Swansea City and QPR, who have come so close to the play-off spots in recent years, widening the threshold to eighth place will likely be an idea worth being in favour of.
Getting a spot in that six-team shootout, where anything becomes possible, gives each side four lots of 90 minutes to win football’s most valuable final and reach the Premier League.
Given that Championship sides getting stuck in the second tier has become a common occurrence, as being a top-half side season upon season is tough to maintain, the motion is expected to be passed with a majority vote.
If the vote is indeed in favour of the expansion, the new play-offs will not be in effect until the 2026/27 season. It will certainly be interesting to see which way this goes.
