Ranking the 8 EFL Championship clubs most likely to be relegated in 2026/27 | OneFootball

Not everybody will be on a quest for glory in the Championship next season. Here are the eight teams most likely to find 2026-27 a struggle.

There's a lengthy break before the start of the 2026–27 season, but the new season won't be a success for everybody, so here's a rundown of the eight clubs most likely to struggle in this division next time around.

With the end-of-season play-offs now complete, the shape of the EFL Championship for 2026-27 is now decided.

The 2025-26 Championship season couldn't have ended in a much more controversial manner, with Southampton denied a place in the play-off final against Middlesbrough as a result of their involvement in the Spygate scandal, and there won't be much of a break for some players in the division, with the 2026 World Cup finals due to start on the 11th June.

But while a host of clubs will be dreaming of ending their season by celebrating promotion to the Premier League, there will be those for whom the 2026-27 season is a matter of surviving. With three clubs due to go down at the end of the season, here's our ranking of eight clubs who may need to be looking over their own shoulders.

8 ? ? Blackburn Rovers

Having ended 2024-25 in seventh place in the Championship, Blackburn Rovers had good reason to feel optimistic ahead of the start of last season. But things certainly didn't go as planned. They didn't rise above 18th in the table after the middle of September, and head coach Valerien Ismael was sacked at the start of February with the team in the relegation places.

The Northern Ireland manager, Michael O'Neill, came in to replace him under the slightly unusual arrangement that he be allowed to continue to manage his national team until the end of the season. O'Neill had one job, to keep Rovers in the Championship, and he achieved this, albeit only by five points, with three away wins at Millwall, Birmingham City and Sheffield United being enough to secure their statis for another season.

O'Neill left the club at the end of the season with other clubs claiming a potential conflict of interests and has since signed a long-term contract with Northern Ireland, although he hasn't ruled out dual management again in the future. Slaven Bilic had been heavily linked with the Blackburn job, but he reportedly declined the position following talks, and Rovers are playing their cards close to their chest when it comes to their other targets.

With uncertainty over who their next manager will be, the team having only finished two places above the relegation zone last season and long-standing unhappiness from the fans over the owners of the club, 2026-27 could be another difficult season for Blackburn Rovers.

Despite Portsmouth having finished in a relatively lowly 18th place in the Championship at the end of last season, their manager, John Mousinho, is a wanted man. He had been connected with the vacant position at Bristol City.

But even though Bristol City ended up going elsewhere for a new head coach, there remains a possibility that the popular Mousinho could still be elsewhere by the start of next season. There have been rumours that Stoke City could be interested in Mousinho, with their manager, Mark Robins, under pressure after he was only able to steer them to 17th place in the table at the end of 2025-26.

Mousinho hasn't gone anywhere yet, and Pompey fans on social media are confident that Mousinho won't be tempted by what they consider to be "a sideways move", but with the transfer window not opening until the 15th June, the position at Fratton Park remains a little unclear and there could yet be big changes before the start of 2026-27.

Whether he stays or not, Portsmouth will be hoping to continue the momentum that they built up over the latter stages of last season, in which they lost just one of their last eight games.

6 ? ? Queens Park Rangers

Few other Championship teams were as unpredictable as Queens Park Rangers, throughout the 2025-26 season. This is, after all, the club who reacted to a 7-1 defeat at Coventry City in August by going on a six-game unbeaten run in the Championship. Rangers ended the season in 15th place in the Championship for the second season in a row, though it was a bit of a concern that they wrapped it up with four consecutive defeats.

Rumours were flying around a few weeks ago that Julien Stephan could be set to leave the club at the end of the season, amid reports that he could be of interest to several unnamed Ligue Un sides, but he was quick to close down those rumours and, with June now fast approaching, it now seems increasingly likely that he will still be with the club for the start of next season.

If he is to stay, his first priority this summer might turn out to be the Rangers defence. With 73 goals conceded in their 46 matches, it was the second-leakiest in the division behind Sheffield Wednesday. QPR ended the season 15 points short of a play-off place, and getting their back line more secure will be critical if they're to improve on a record which has only seen them finish above mid-table twice in the last eleven years.

5 ? ? Bolton Wanderers

It had been a long time coming. Three second half goals in the League One play-off final against Stockport County secured a convincing 4-1 win for Bolton Wanderers, marking their return to the second tier following an absence of seven years during which, in a financially enfeebled condition, they dropped as low as League Two.

Bolton have 11 players falling out of contract come the end of this season, and two that they will desperately want to keep hold of will be Amario Cozier-Duberry and Mason Burstow. Cozier-Duberry has been on a season-long loan from Brighton and earned rave reviews with a string of excellent performances, including eight goals and ten assists in 34 League appearances, while Burstow ended the season as their joint-highest goalscorer, alongside Sam Dalby.

But seven years is a long time to have been away from this division, and Bolton's fifth-placed finish in League One at the end of 2025-26 raises questions about whether they'll be able to deal with the step-up.

4 ? ? Preston North End

As late as the start of January, Preston North End were in fourth place in the table and challenging hard for a play-off place, only for the wheels to come off their challenge in the closing weeks of the season. By the end of the season they were in 14th place and those hopes of a return to the top-flight of English football for the first time since 1961 had evaporated.

Like Queens Park Rangers, Preston have now been a Championship club for years without having reached the play-offs, and one of their bigger talking points of their summer could turn out to be the slow-motion takeover of Amr Zedan. A sale of the club has been on the table for quite some time, but it has been reported that the Saudi businessman is inching towards reaching an agreement with the club, and this could lead to fresh investment before the end of the summer transfer window.

Local newspaper, the Lancashire Post, has opined that "time is of the essence" with regard to getting this sale completed, with journalist George Hodgson saying: "The management team have stressed the need for added investment, and it is crucial Preston have a strong summer transfer window. It goes without saying that boosted resources would increase the chances of achieving that, albeit PNE would still have to abide by new squad cost ratio rules." Without that clean sweep, Preston could be in for another difficult season in 2026-27.

One of the problems with being successful with a young and clearly talented manager is that this very success will attract the interest of others at the very moment that you need it the least.

When Cardiff City were relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season they found themselves at a bit of a crossroads. But, as derided though he often is, club owner Vincent Chan seems to have played a blinder in hiring and - at the time of writing - being able to keep hold of Brian Barry-Murphy.

Barry-Murphy is extremely well thought of within the game, and he has been connected with the vacant managerial position at Burnley. But Burnley have also been closely linked to the former Liverpool star Steven Gerrard, and there has been no movement yet.

One surprise departure already confirmed this summer is that of midfielder Ryan Wintle, who ended last season as the club's Player and Players' Player of the Year. Wintle is leaving The Cardiff City Stadium after five years with the club, which the player himself confirmed as, "a decision that was completely out of my control."

It's seldom straightforward for a newly-promoted team in a division and, having led the table from the start of December to the end of February, ending up 12 points adrift of champions Lincoln City was a disappointment. But the highly-rated young manager remains with Cardiff City for now, and that could end up counting for a lot.

2 ? ? Charlton Athletic

It was expected that 2025-26 could be a difficult season for Charlton Athletic following their promotion from League One via the play-offs at the end of 2024-25, and so it proved, albeit after a strong start which saw them in a play-off place by the first week in November. The Addicks ended the season in 19th place in the table, and a run of just one win in their last nine league matches was a cause for concern going into the summer break.

The summer has thus far proved a little sticky so far as well. The club signed striker Lyndon Dykes on a short-term deal from Birmingham in the January transfer window, and he chipped in with two goals and three assists over the second half of the season, but there has been reported interest in him from Millwall and Leicester City. Charlton fans will be unlikely to hear much about it for a few weeks, with Dykes having been selected for the Scotland squad for the World Cup finals.

Given the way in which Charlton Athletic trailed off in the closing weeks of the season, manager Nathan Jones will need a strong start to 2026-27, or it could be that his position is at risk by the autumn, if not sooner.

1 ? ? Lincoln City

Lincoln City were the biggest surprise of the entire EFL throughout the 2025-26 season, running up an incredible 103 points in League One and ending the season 12 points clear of second-placed Cardiff City and an incredible 26 points ahead of third-placed Stockport County. Furthermore, this came from absolutely nowhere, with them having finished the season before in 11th place in the table.

But the scale of the challenge ahead of them is immense, with Michael Skubala heading for Bristol City and continuity being the Imps' road from here, with Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw replacing him. The Imps have been members of the EFL since 1892, but they've only spent twelve years in the last century playing at this level, while they haven't been at it at all since 1960-61.

Winning the League One title at a canter last season was an incredible achievement, but the Championship can be a ruthless environment, and they will do very well to finish above the relegation places after a less-than ideal start to the summer.

But if you can carry form over from one season to the next, they could have a decent chance. Lincoln ended 2025-26 season unbeaten over their last 29 games of the season, a run which stretches all the way back to a 3-2 defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on the 22nd November. Furthermore, over those 29 games, they only dropped twelve points from six draws.

Next season is going to be a huge challenge, but if form can be carried over from one season to the next, they could yet make a go of it. It's difficult to believe that next season marks the tenth anniversary of them becoming the first non-league club to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in more than a century.