The 2024/25 EFL Championship Season: A New Chapter Begins

The crowd’s roar, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the anticipation of the unknown – it’s that time of year again! The EFL Championship season is upon us, and the stage is set for another thrilling campaign with the promise of promotion to the Premier League as the ultimate prize as clubs across the country are sharpening their claws and preparing for battle.

For the past 20 years, The EFL Championship has enthralled many football fans worldwide, and now that it is back in 2024/25, we’re about to expect nothing short of that. The new Championship season begins today, Friday, August 9 2024, and there’s a certain charm. The opening weekend action spreads across four days, with four games on Friday, 30 on Saturday and one apiece on Sunday and Monday.

Now in its 20th year, and though it may not be as good as the Premier League, it still offers the best drama because it is unpredictable and entertaining.

It will for sure throw up many weird and wonderful surprises, having lasted over a 20-year lifespan, bringing about 14 different winners emerging since the competition’s rebranding in 2004, half of which will be competing in this year’s enthralling edition, to being so insane that despite appearing to be still capable of mounting a promotion bid, the involved clubs are never more than a few weeks or results away from the discomfort of the drop zone to new managers, players, and tactics, that make the league a melting pot of ambition and uncertainty. Its unpredictability and jeopardy go hand in hand.

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Last season, there was another hell of a thriller. Leicester City and Ipswich won through a close-run season to take the automatic promotion, and Southampton emerged from a tense playoff competition. The standard was incredible at both ends, with Ipswich bagging 96 points to get the second precious automatic promotion spot. Birmingham went down by an unusually high 50 points at the tail end. Burnley, Luton, and Sheffield United are all back, having failed to make their 2023 promotions stick in the Premier League.

Not to be undervalued is its significance to the football ecosystem: 19 players selected for England’s Euro 2024 team this summer had played championship football in the past, of which seven of the 19 began the match against Spain.

The unpredictable nature of the league adds to its allure. The action reel for 2023–24 was jam-packed with drama and entertainment: Ipswich won back-to-back promotions, Michael Beale played for 63 days at Sunderland, Wayne Rooney played for 83 days at Birmingham, Milutin Osmajic scored a hat-trick in seven minutes, and Wesley Hoedt scored from halfway line. Moments that contribute to the overall depth of a league brimming with diversity and never-ending interest.
As does a peculiar but remarkably fascinating array of managers, young, dynamic talent also abounds.

It is more than just a platform; it is a breeding ground. Former players who became managers pit their wits against stalwarts of the game in a pick-and-mix style miscellany. What is more, Vincent Kompany and Enzo Maresca have since secured top positions in the Premier League and Bundesliga after winning the Championship title on their first attempts with Burnley (2023) and Leicester (2024), respectively.

It’ll intrigue you to know that 38 different teams have finished in the top six of the Championship since 2004-05 – in that same period, the Premier League can only boast of 15 different clubs reaching the top six.

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Of course, the Championship is by no means perfect. Its relentless chase of the Premier League can be unforgiving – and has been crippling in some cases – but makes for the most compelling of rewards for those select few who make it. Luton and Ipswich, modest clubs by top-flight comparison, are recent benefactors of the system’s spoils and legitimate reasons for others to dream.
And that’s the irony, right? The thrill of the Championship comes from those teams most determined to smash through its glass ceiling – ideally, never to return.

Each club has a specific role; most are assigned some months into a campaign. There will be the outliers, the protagonist, though not always the frontrunner, the surprise package, those that rise from the dead – as Sheffield Wednesday and QPR did last season – and those that fall by the wayside.

Because, I mean, that’s the sport for you. Some guises change almost weekly; what’s consistent is that football is regularly the winner. Though that may sound trite, it keeps record-breaking numbers of fans flocking for more. It has prompted A-list names – most recently NFL superstar Tom Brady at Birmingham City – to become investors and, ultimately, enthusiasts.

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The Championship is now referred to as the wealthiest non-top-flight division in the world by many and the most highly attended. The EFL Championship playoff final between Leeds and Southampton had a higher attendance (85,862) than this year’s FA Cup final between Manchester City and local rivals Manchester United (84,814).

Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Ollie Watkins are among its most prominent alums – all now England internationals – while Archie Gray is the most recent of youngsters to be plucked in a multi-million-pound deal by a Premier League giant. It is worth noting that since 2004-05, Championship clubs have bagged £3,834,108,124bn from player exports.

And yet, it’s where the heart of “competitive balance” can be found and where the playing field is most even, not forgetting, it is also where unpredictability thrives and uncertainty is celebrated.

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Every season brings something new, and the 2024/25 EFL Championship is no exception. Even though it might not match the Premier League for quality, it can be applauded for daring to try, and despite both leagues being many yards apart, the Championship still bags an evident charm that remains undeniable.
The EFL Championship is and will remain a league on the rise.
The 2024/25 is already presumed to hold promises as another unforgettable season. With this current mix of established clubs, ambitious newcomers, and exciting young talent, the league is in great shape for a real battle, which will be fierce, and the fight to avoid relegation will be equally intense.