Sean Dyche reveals what he really thinks of big EFL Championship change for 2026/27 | OneFootball

The Championship play-offs will change this upcoming season

The 2026/27 Championship season officially commenced earlier this week, even though all associated with the division's 24 clubs have to wait until the weekend of between August 14th and August 17th to play the first of 46 regular-season matches.

A longer wait than usual for the beginning of the second tier season is due to the fact all 72 clubs in the EFL - including those in League One and League Two - will kick off their respective competitive campaigns with the EFL Cup first round, which is the first time such developments have occurred in well over a decade.

That said, excitement is certainly in the air regarding the new season, even though, for the time being, supporters not just in this country, but across the world have been gripped with the 'fever' that is so often associated with the FIFA World Cup, which, for the first time ever, saw 48 teams compete in the finals.

Plenty of on and off-pitch changes throughout the tournament in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico have been introduced throughout matches, and it is fair to say that they have split opinion amongst managers, players, supporters and beyond.

The most controversial of those have been the 'mandatory' three-minute hydration breaks that have been introduced by FIFA in a bid to enhance player welfare in extremely hot conditions, even though some stadiums were purpose-built with air conditioning.

That said, hydration breaks were also seen in the recent EFL play-off finals, which were won by Hull City, Bolton Wanderers and Notts County, due to above average temperatures at Wembley Stadium for May.

However, an even greater change to the second tier play-offs will come next year, although former Burnley and Watford boss, Sean Dyche, doesn't appear to be a fan.

How Sean Dyche really feels about EFL Championship play-off restructure

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Dyche, 55, has won promotion from the Championship to the Premier League twice in his managerial career, both coming with Burnley in 2014 and 2016 respectively - the latter of which was a title-winning campaign amid a run of 23 games unbeaten.

However, it is fair to say that the vastly-experienced boss, who most recently took charge of Nottingham Forest in their chaotic 2025/26 campaign, clearly had a lot of time for the four-team system which saw two two-legged semi-finals take place before the 'richest game in football' in North London, which, last season, was worth £215m-plus.

Yet, from this season, the sides who finish seventh and eighth will initially compete in one-off 'eliminator' ties against fifth and sixth to then determine who faces off against the teams who finished third and fourth in the customary semi-finals.

The Kettering-born man has, of course, gone viral in recent years for his take on how football has progressed, and in a series of questions he was asked by Oddschecker on Instagram, after which he had to respond with 'game's gone' or 'game's on', he was asked about the play-off restructure.

Not impressed by the EFL's change, Dyche responded: "game's gone!" to that particular.

Sean Dyche won't be alone in his thoughts on EFL play-off change

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This is the first major change made to the Championship's play-off format in just short of 40 years, meaning many of those who have grown up with the 'norm' of the semi-finals and then the final are feeling skeptical over such a change.

In the National League, the same format has been applied since the 2017/18 season, but no side who has finished in the two-lowest spots have ever gained promotion to League Two, which means that, while it will add an incentive for many teams who would maybe have seen their campaigns peter out in the Championship to push for promotion, they still have another obstacle to overcome.

Furthermore, this change has not been implemented into the League One or League Two play-offs yet, and those who support the 48 teams in those two divisions may be very pleased indeed.