The Championship returns in August with a host of big clubs joining the division for the 2023-24 season.
Leicester City are expected to lose a number of their best players this summer but will still be well-fancied to bounce straight back to the Premier League following their shock relegation.
Leeds and Southampton will join the Foxes in the second tier after top-flight spells of three and 11 years respectively came to an end in disappointing fashion in May.
A few sleeping giants are returning to the division via a more desirable route with League One title winners Plymouth Argyle, runners-up Ipswich Town and play-off champions Sheffield Wednesday all among the 24 clubs.
There are 19 former Premier League clubs in the Championship next season, including two former winners in Leicester (2015-16) and Blackburn Rovers (1994-95), which should make for a typically competitive division.
Plenty will be hoping to follow in Luton Town’s footsteps after the Hatters went up via the play-offs despite having one of the lowest budgets in the Championship.
The financial rewards of being in the Premier League have never been greater, with Deloitte estimating that the division’s 20 clubs earned a combined £5.8bn in revenue in the 2022-23 season.
As such, all 24 representatives in the Championship will be doing all they can to achieve promotion. Will any of Leicester, Leeds or Southampton go straight back up? Or will another unfancied side follow in Luton’s footsteps?
The answers to those particular questions will come next May, but for the time being here are the key details for the Championship’s fixture release day:
Full list of Championship teams for the 2023-24 season
- Birmingham City
- Blackburn Rovers
- Bristol City
- Cardiff City
- Coventry City
- Huddersfield Town
- Hull City
- Ipswich Town
- Leeds United
- Leicester City
- Middlesbrough
- Millwall
- Norwich City
- Plymouth Argyle
- Preston North End
- QPR
- Rotherham United
- Sheffield Wednesday
- Southampton
- Stoke City
- Sunderland
- Swansea City
- Watford
- West Brom
When does the Championship 2023-24 season start?
According to the EFL’s website, the Championship will commence with a likely game on Friday 4 August.
That will be followed by the remaining fixtures on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 August.
When does the Championship 2023-24 season finish?
At this stage it is unclear when the regular season will finish, however the EFL have released dates for the play-off finals in the Championship, League One and League Two.
The Championship play-off final will be held at Wembley on Sunday 26 May 2024.
When are the Championship fixtures announced?
All will be revealed on Thursday 22 June with all 72 EFL clubs – including the 24 Championship sides – announcing their schedule for the campaign at 9am BST.
As ever some fixtures will be subject to change once Sky Sports has made their selections for live matches. This is the penultimate campaign before Sky’s new broadcasting deal comes in which will show over 1,000 EFL games.
Every team in the division will play each other once, with one game at home and the other away.
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