The Championship play-offs ain’t broke, but new changes add extra sparkle as EFL outdo FIFA, UEFA | OneFootball

As the saying goes, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. But the EFL have managed to make their premier end-of-season tournament even better…

No one asked FIFA to change the World Cup and the expansion of the competition will lead to plenty of pretty meaningless games in the summer before we get to the knockout stages.

No one asked UEFA to change the Champions League and its convoluted group format, which rewards mediocrity with an oversized safety net for underperforming giants to crawl to the knockout round.

And no one asked for EFL to change the already near-faultless Championship play-offs, but the latest change to football’s convention is actually for the better.

Money, as with anything in the modern game, is the main reason behind FIFA and UEFA altering their competitions, because more teams and more games attract more eyeballs to the product, but bigger is not always better.

And the money factor has also likely contributed to the EFL switching up the Championship play-offs, but they have trumped FIFA and UEFA by making their competition stronger in the process.

For those unaware, from next season, there will be six teams instead of four competing in the Championship play-offs.

Since the late 1980s, the four sides finishing below the top two automatically promoted teams have contested the play-offs, with a pair of two-legged semi-finals (3rd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th) preceding a final to decide the third time to go up to the First Division/Premier League.

But from the 2026/27 campaign, the teams to finish 7th and 8th will also be brought into the mix.

There is an extra incentive to finish 3rd and 4th as these sides will head straight to the two-legged semi-finals, while there will be additional one-off ties: 5th vs 8th and 6th vs 7th in the quarter-finals.

Got it? Good.

No one likes change and this overhaul of the play-offs has been widely derided since the upcoming switch was confirmed.

Some people’s primary bugbear is that they cannot conceive a team that finishes eighth in the Championship ending up in the Premier League, but those entering the play-offs from this position have the odds stacked against them.

The EFL have jumped on board with a six-team tournament after the National League’s version (which includes sides finishing between 2nd and 7th) has been well-received, with Grimsby Town, who ended sixth in 2021/22, the only non-top five outfit to win the play-offs since its expansion in 2017/18.

And teams have had similar issues in Serie B (only one side has won the play-offs after finishing sixth or below since the format change in 2013/14), so it is clear that the cream does still generally rise to the top, as the sides deserving of their higher positions usually triumph.

A long-held complaint of the play-offs is that the system is harsh on the sides who come close to sneaking into the automatic places, but this new format gives them a clear advantage over rivals.

Next season’s tournament should also make the climax of the campaign even more exciting; there will be more on the line for the chasing pack, as the race for the top-eight positions will involve more teams, while the annual blues of the play-offs ending will ease as there are more nail-biting games to enjoy.

It really does feel like a slam-dunk from the EFL, which is rare to say the very least.