2025–26 EFL Championship

The 2025–26 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the 10th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 34th season under its current league division format.

EFL Championship

Season	2025–26
Dates	8 August 2025 – 2 May 2026
Matches	262
Goals	693 (2.65 per match)
Top goalscorer	Adam Armstrong (Southampton) (11 goals)
Biggest home win	Coventry City 7–1 Queens Park Rangers (23 August 2025)
Biggest away win	Sheffield Wednesday 0–5 Coventry City (4 October 2025)
Highest scoring	Derby County 3–5 Coventry City (16 August 2025) Coventry City 7–1 Queens Park Rangers (23 August 2025)
Longest winning run	Coventry City (6 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Coventry City (12 games)
Longest winless run	Sheffield Wednesday (15 games)
Longest losing run	Norwich City Sheffield United (6 games)
Highest attendance	32,740 Sheffield Wednesday 0–3 Sheffield United (23 November 2025)
Lowest attendance	7,081 Sheffield Wednesday 0–1 Middlesbrough (22 October 2025)
Total attendance	5,736,993
Average attendance	21,897
← 2024–25 2026–27 → All statistics correct as of 20 December 2025.

The 2025–26 season consists of 33 weekend rounds, 9 midweek rounds, and 4 bank holiday rounds.^[1]

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2024–25 season:

To Championship Promoted from League One Birmingham City Wrexham Charlton Athletic Relegated from the Premier League Leicester City Ipswich Town Southampton

From Championship Promoted to the Premier League Leeds United Burnley Sunderland Relegated to League One Luton Town Plymouth Argyle Cardiff City

Stadiums and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team Location Stadium Capacity Birmingham City Birmingham (Bordesley) St Andrew's 29,409 Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Ewood Park 31,367 Bristol City Bristol Ashton Gate 26,462 Charlton Athletic London (Charlton) The Valley 27,111 Coventry City Coventry Coventry Building Society Arena 32,609 Derby County Derby Pride Park 32,926 Hull City Kingston upon Hull MKM Stadium 25,586 Ipswich Town Ipswich Portman Road 30,056 Leicester City Leicester King Power Stadium 32,259 Middlesbrough Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium 34,742 Millwall London (Bermondsey) The Den 20,146 Norwich City Norwich Carrow Road 27,359 Oxford United Oxford Kassam Stadium 12,500 Portsmouth Portsmouth Fratton Park 20,867 Preston North End Preston Deepdale 23,408 Queens Park Rangers London (Shepherd's Bush) Loftus Road 18,439 Sheffield United Sheffield (Highfield) Bramall Lane 32,050 Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield (Hillsborough) Hillsborough Stadium 39,732 Southampton Southampton St Mary's Stadium 32,384 Stoke City Stoke-on-Trent bet365 Stadium 30,089 Swansea City Swansea Swansea.com Stadium 21,088 Watford Watford Vicarage Road 22,200 West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich The Hawthorns 26,850 Wrexham Wrexham Racecourse Ground 10,771

London Birmingham City Blackburn Rovers Bristol City Coventry City Derby County Hull City Ipswich Town Leicester City Middlesbrough Norwich City Oxford United Preston North End Portsmouth Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Southampton Stoke City Swansea City Watford West Bromwich Albion Wrexham London teams: Charlton Athletic Millwall Queens Park Rangers Locations of the 2025–26 EFL Championship teams Charlton Athletic Millwall Queens Park Rangers Greater London EFL Championship football clubs

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
				Main	Other(s)
Birmingham City	Chris Davies	Christoph Klarer[2]	Nike	Undefeated[3]	List Back: Visit Birmingham, Alabama Sleeve: None Shorts: SheMed[4]
Blackburn Rovers	Valérien Ismaël	Todd Cantwell	Macron	Watson Ramsbottom Solicitors	List Back: None Sleeve: Venky's Shorts: Venky's
Bristol City	Gerhard Struber	Jason Knight	O'Neills	Fever[5]	List Back: GoSkippy Sleeve: Exacta Technologies Shorts: Digital NRG
Charlton Athletic	Nathan Jones	Greg Docherty[6]	Reebok[7]	RSK Group[8]	List Back: University of Greenwich Sleeve: Christopher Ward Shorts: None
Coventry City	Frank Lampard	Matt Grimes[9]	Hummel[10]	Monzo[11]	List Back: Monzo Business Sleeve: XL Motors[12] Shorts: None
Derby County	John Eustace	Lewis Travis[13]	Puma	FanHub	List Back: HSG UK Sleeve: None Shorts: HSG UK
Hull City	Sergej Jakirović	Lewie Coyle	Kappa	Corendon Airlines[14]	List Back: None Sleeve: Anex Tour Shorts: None
Ipswich Town	Kieran McKenna	Dara O'Shea[15]	Umbro	Halo Service Solutions[16]	List Back: None Sleeve: Tingley Ted's Shorts: Fleximize
Leicester City	Martí Cifuentes	Ricardo Pereira	Adidas[17]	BC.GAME[18]	List Back: None Sleeve: Bia Saigon Shorts: None
Middlesbrough	Kim Hellberg	Dael Fry	Castore[19]	Unibet[20]	List Back: Perco Foods Sleeve: Telcoss Shorts: NOCO
Millwall	Alex Neil	Jake Cooper	Erreà	MyGuava	List Back: Wiggett Group Sleeve: FXD Capital Shorts: None
Norwich City	Philippe Clement	Kenny McLean	Joma[21]	Blakely Clothing[22]	List Back: Green Light Consultancy Group Sleeve: Willy's Pies Shorts: BetWright
Oxford United	Vacant	Cameron Brannagan	Macron	Baxi	List Back: None Sleeve: Caprinos Pizza Shorts: None
Portsmouth	John Mousinho	Marlon Pack	Nike	University of Portsmouth	List Back: Aura.com (H) / TotalAV (A) Sleeve: BeeBu Shorts: MG Richmond
Preston North End	Paul Heckingbottom	Benjamin Whiteman	Castore	SpudBros[23]	List Back: Pub Casino Sleeve: CPC Shorts: None
Queens Park Rangers	Julien Stéphan	Jimmy Dunne	Erreà[24]	CopyBet[25]	List Back: Xtra Maintenance Sleeve: MyGuava Shorts: MyGuava Business
Sheffield United	Chris Wilder	Japhet Tanganga	Erreà	Midnite[26]	List Back: None Sleeve: Village Hotel Club Shorts: NOCO
Sheffield Wednesday	Henrik Pedersen	Barry Bannan	Macron	Mr Vegas[27]	List Back: None Sleeve: None Shorts: Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust
Southampton	Tonda Eckert	Jack Stephens[28]	Puma[29]	P&O Cruises[30]	List Back: Midnite Sleeve: Garmin Shorts: Midnite
Stoke City	Mark Robins	Ben Gibson	Macron	bet365	TBA
Swansea City	Vítor Matos	Ben Cabango	Joma[31]	Reviva Coffee[32]	List Back: Swansea Building Society Sleeve: Visit Central Florida Shorts: First Grade Projects
Watford	Javi Gracia	Imrân Louza	Kelme	MrQ.com	List Back: Koka Sleeve: University of Hertfordshire Shorts: Asus
West Bromwich Albion	Ryan Mason	Jed Wallace	Macron[33]	Ideal Heating	List Back: Mega Riches Sleeve: BarberBoss Shorts: None
Wrexham	Phil Parkinson	James McClean	Macron[34][35]	United Airlines[36][37]	List Back: Meta Quest Sleeve: HP Shorts: None

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in the table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Norwich City	Jack Wilshere	End of interim spell	3 May 2025	Pre-season	Liam Manning[38]	3 June 2025
West Bromwich Albion	James Morrison				Ryan Mason[39]	2 June 2025
Watford	Tom Cleverley[40]	Sacked	6 May 2025		Paulo Pezzolano[41]	13 May 2025
Hull City	Rubén Sellés[42]		15 May 2025		Sergej Jakirović[43]	11 June 2025
Southampton	Simon Rusk	End of interim spell	25 May 2025		Will Still[44]	25 May 2025
Bristol City	Liam Manning[38]	Signed by Norwich City	3 June 2025		Gerhard Struber[45]	19 June 2025
Middlesbrough	Michael Carrick[46]	Sacked	4 June 2025		Rob Edwards[47]	24 June 2025
Sheffield United	Chris Wilder[48]	Mutual consent	18 June 2025		Rubén Sellés[49]	18 June 2025
Queens Park Rangers	Martí Cifuentes[50]		24 June 2025		Julien Stéphan[51]	25 June 2025
Leicester City	Ruud van Nistelrooy[52]		27 June 2025		Martí Cifuentes[53]	15 July 2025
Sheffield Wednesday	Danny Röhl[54]		29 July 2025		Henrik Pedersen[55]	31 July 2025
Sheffield United	Rubén Sellés[56]	Sacked	14 September 2025	24th	Chris Wilder[57]	15 September 2025
Watford	Paulo Pezzolano[58]		8 October 2025	11th	Javi Gracia[58]	8 October 2025
Southampton	Will Still[59]		2 November 2025	21st	Tonda Eckert[a][60]	2 November 2025
Norwich City	Liam Manning[61]		8 November 2025	23rd	Philippe Clement[62]	18 November 2025
Swansea City	Alan Sheehan[63]		11 November 2025	18th	Vítor Matos[64]	24 November 2025
Middlesbrough	Rob Edwards[65]	Signed by Wolverhampton Wanderers	12 November 2025	2nd	Kim Hellberg[66]
Oxford United	Gary Rowett[67]	Sacked	23 December 2025	22nd

1. Eckert was initially named interim manager before being appointed on a permanent basis on 5 December 2025.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Coventry City	22	14	6	2	53	23	+30	48	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Middlesbrough	22	12	6	4	33	24	+9	42
3	Ipswich Town	22	10	7	5	38	23	+15	37	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
4	Hull City	22	11	4	7	37	35	+2	37
5	Preston North End	22	9	9	4	30	23	+7	36
6	Millwall	22	10	5	7	25	31	−6	35
7	Queens Park Rangers	22	10	4	8	32	34	−2	34
8	Stoke City	22	10	3	9	28	21	+7	33
9	Bristol City	22	9	6	7	30	24	+6	33
10	Watford	22	8	8	6	31	28	+3	32
11	Southampton	22	8	7	7	36	31	+5	31
12	Derby County	22	8	7	7	31	30	+1	31
13	Leicester City	22	8	7	7	31	31	0	31
14	Birmingham City	22	8	5	9	30	29	+1	29
15	Wrexham	22	6	10	6	27	27	0	28
16	West Bromwich Albion	22	8	4	10	25	29	−4	28
17	Charlton Athletic	21	7	6	8	21	26	−5	27
18	Sheffield United	22	8	2	12	28	31	−3	26
19	Swansea City	22	7	5	10	24	30	−6	26
20	Blackburn Rovers	21	7	4	10	22	26	−4	25
21	Portsmouth	21	5	6	10	18	28	−10	21
22	Oxford United	22	4	7	11	22	31	−9	19	Relegation to EFL League One
23	Norwich City	22	4	6	12	25	35	−10	18
24	Sheffield Wednesday[a]	21	1	6	14	16	43	−27	−9

Updated to match(es) played on 20 December 2025. Source: EFL Official Website
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) Number of 12-point sending off offences; 9) Play-off (only if needed to determine promotion/relegation)^[70]
Notes:

1. Sheffield Wednesday were deducted twelve points due to filing for administration on 24 October 2025, then deducted a further six points on 1 December 2025 for failing to meet payment obligations.^[68][69]

Results

Home \ Away	BIR	BLA	BRI	CHA	COV	DER	HUL	IPS	LEI	MID	MIL	NOR	OXF	POR	PNE	QPR	SHU	SHW	SOU	STO	SWA	WAT	WBA	WRX
Birmingham City	—			1–1			2–3	1–1			4–0	4–1	1–0	4–0				2–2			1–0	2–1
Blackburn Rovers	1–2	—				1–2		1–1			2–0	0–2	1–1			0–1	1–3		2–1	1–1	1–2
Bristol City	1–0	0–1	—	0–0			4–2	1–1	2–2	2–0	0–1		1–3			1–2			3–1		3–0
Charlton Athletic		3–0		—					0–1	1–2	1–1		1–0			a		2–1	1–5		1–1	1–0	1–0
Coventry City	3–0	2–0	1–0	3–1	—		0–0		a			1–1				7–1	3–1					3–1	3–2
Derby County			1–1	1–1	3–5	—	2–1		1–3		1–1	1–0		1–1	0–1	1–0			1–1			2–3
Hull City		0–3		1–1			—	0–2	2–1	1–4			3–2	3–2	2–2		1–0		3–1				1–0	2–0
Ipswich Town				0–3	3–0	2–2		—				3–1		2–1			5–0	3–1	1–1	1–0		1–1	1–0	0–0
Leicester City	2–0	0–2			0–0	a		3–1	—	1–1				1–1			2–3	2–1		2–1				1–1
Middlesbrough	2–1				2–4	2–1		2–1		—						3–1	1–0			0–0	1–0		2–1	1–1
Millwall				a	0–4		1–3		1–0	0–3	—				1–1	a		1–0	3–2	2–0		1–0	3–0	0–2
Norwich City			0–1				0–2	a	1–2	1–2	1–2	—	1–1			3–1			2–1				0–1	2–3
Oxford United					2–2	1–0		2–1	2–2	1–1	2–2		—	0–1	1–2		0–1			0–3
Portsmouth		2–1	0–1		1–2					1–0	3–1	1–2		—	1–0			0–2	a	0–1		2–2		0–0
Preston North End	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	1–1			1–0	2–1	2–2		1–1			—		3–2				2–1			1–1
Queens Park Rangers	2–1			3–1			3–2	1–4	4–1		1–2		0–0		1–1	—			1–2	1–0			3–1
Sheffield United	3–0		1–4	0–1		1–3					0–1	1–1		3–0		0–0	—	a	1–2	4–0		1–0
Sheffield Wednesday			0–3		0–5	0–3				0–1		1–1	1–2		2–3	1–1	0–3	—		0–3	0–2
Southampton	3–1				1–1				3–0	1–1				0–0	0–2			3–1	—	1–2	0–0		3–2	2–1
Stoke City	1–0		5–1	3–0	0–1	3–1	1–2					1–1								—	2–1		0–1	1–0
Swansea City						1–2	2–2	1–4	1–3		1–1	2–1	2–0	1–0		0–1	1–0				—	1–1		2–1
Watford		0–1	1–1				2–1			3–0		3–2	2–1		1–1	2–1		1–1	2–2	1–0		—	2–1
West Bromwich Albion	1–1	1–0				0–1			1–1				2–1	1–1	2–1		2–0	0–0			3–2		—
Wrexham	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–2	1–1							1–0			1–3		2–2				2–2	2–3	—

Updated to match(es) played on 20 December 2025. Source: efl.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 20 December 2025

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Adam Armstrong	Southampton	11
2	Joe Gelhardt	Hull City	10
	Carlton Morris	Derby County
	Brandon Thomas-Asante	Coventry City
5	Rumarn Burrell	Queens Park Rangers	9
	Oli McBurnie	Hull City
	Žan Vipotnik	Swansea City
8	Aune Heggebø	West Bromwich Albion	8
	Luca Kjerrumgaard	Watford
	Kieffer Moore	Wrexham
	Jaden Philogene	Ipswich Town
	Jay Stansfield	Birmingham City
	Sorba Thomas	Stoke City
	Morgan Whittaker	Middlesbrough
	Haji Wright	Coventry City

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of EFL Championship hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Jaden Philogene	Ipswich Town	Sheffield United	5–0 (H)[71]	12 September 2025
Kieffer Moore	Wrexham	Coventry City	3–2 (H)[72]	31 October 2025
Carlton Morris	Derby County	Sheffield United	3–1 (A)[73]	1 November 2025
Divin Mubama	Stoke City	Bristol City	5–1 (H)[74]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Carl Rushworth	Coventry City	8
2	Michael Cooper	Sheffield United	7
	Viktor Johansson	Stoke City
	Thomas Kaminski	Charlton Athletic
	Radek Vítek	Bristol City
6	Arthur Okonkwo	Wrexham	6
7	Sol Brynn	Middlesbrough	5
	Daniel Iversen	Preston North End
	Ivor Pandur	Hull City
	Lawrence Vigouroux	Swansea City
	Christian Walton	Ipswich Town

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10
  • Junior Tchamadeu (Stoke City)
• Most red cards: 1
  • Twenty-six players

Club

• Most yellow cards: 52
  • Derby County
• Most red cards: 3
  • Birmingham City
  • West Bromwich Albion
• Fewest yellow cards: 28
  • Oxford United
• Fewest red cards: 0
  • Bristol City
  • Derby County
  • Hull City
  • Oxford United
  • Queens Park Rangers
  • Sheffield United

Awards

Monthly

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref
August	Rob Edwards	Middlesbrough	Josh Sargent	Norwich City	[75]
September	Kieran McKenna	Ipswich Town	Oli McBurnie	Hull City	[76]
October	Frank Lampard	Coventry City	Brandon Thomas-Asante	Coventry City	[77]
November			Ellis Simms		[78]

See also

• 2025–26 Premier League
• 2025–26 EFL League One
• 2025–26 EFL League Two
• 2025–26 National League
• 2025–26 EFL Cup
• 2025–26 FA Cup
• 2025–26 EFL Trophy