Championship Betting Tips And Predictions

• Championship History and Statistics
• EFL Championship Predictions
• Championship Previous Winners
• Championship Betting Tips Summary

The EFL Championship is one of the most-watched football leagues in the world. Its penchant for exciting games, shock results, and dramatic promotions makes the Championship such an appealing league, and its up-and-down nature can either present a bettor’s dream or nightmare.

If you’re looking for Championship betting tips, then consider this a guide with predictions, breakdowns, and a decision on if the bookies get it right.

Let’s dive right in with an overview of what the Championship is and who its most successful teams are.

Championship History and Statistics

The EFL Championship is what was formerly known as the First Division after the Premier League was introduced. It has been around since 1892 and is now second-tier of English football.

Its current incarnation was introduced in 2004 and its profile and reputation has only grown since then. Considered a lively, vibrant league, the Championship is a great way to explore up-and-coming players and teams.

There are 24 teams in the Championship, three of which are eligible for promotion to the Premier League via the automatic (top two) spots or victory in the play-offs (played between the teams finishing third to sixth).

Since its rebranding in 2004, there have been five teams with multiple Championship wins:

• Norwich City
• Reading
• Sunderland
• Newcastle United
• Wolverhampton Wanderers

Keep in mind that these are the teams who have finished first place and claimed the outright EFL Championship trophy. Teams with multiple promotions (who reached the Premier League without winning the Championship) include:

• Middlesbrough
• Crystal Palace
• Leicester City
• West Bromwich Albion
• Watford

All of these teams have finished 1st in the Championship, yet the vast majority of their promotions occurred via a 2nd place finish or a play-off win.

EFL Championship Predictions

Betting on the Championship requires strong research, however keep in mind that shock results are far more common than they are in the Premier League. The larger amount of games played, plus the lower quality relative to the PL, makes games harder to predict.

Know Your Markets

Betting on the outright Championship winner may be the first thing that comes to mind as you begin betting on the league, but you can also bet on relegation, top goalscorers, who reaches the play-offs, and who finishes in second place.

Think about the markets you’re most confident in before you put any money at stake. This will help ensure your Championship betting experience is a smooth one. Keep in mind that betting on who wins the play-offs is considerably harder than betting on the outright winner as teams can pop up out of nowhere and challenge.

Championship Previous Winners

The vast majority of teams who are promoted to the top-flight have played Premier League football before. If we look at the Championship outright winners from 2015 to 2020, all of them apart from Bournemouth had previously played in the top-tier of English football.

Teams relegated from the Premier League to the Championship are given parachute payments on their way down, and this financial help results in the vast majority of the same teams competing to back up each season, in different combinations.

The rise of ‘yo-yo’ clubs (i.e teams who regularly bounce between the first and second-tiers) has led to the Championship being less predictable as it used to be, with many punters backing a relegated top-flight team to at least fight for the Championship the following season.

The financial gap between those relegated from the Premier League and those coming up from League One is large - meaning that it’s easy to languish in the division for years on end, with teams like Southampton, Leeds United, and Nottingham Forest all seeing a lengthy exodus from the top-flight.

Predict the Unpredictable

England’s second-tier can be frustratingly difficult to predict. Games that are perhaps obvious on-paper can easily flip the other way, and a team who were previously discounted at the start of the season can put runs together to reach the play-offs.

Approach Championship games with caution and always be prepared for an upset. Whilst the top teams do have considerably more quality and financial backing than those at the bottom, this doesn’t necessarily mean games are a foregone conclusion.

Do The Favourites Always Win?

As with any football league or competition, each Championship campaign starts with a bookies’ favourite to win.

Deciding whether the bookies are always correct or not requires research into who was backed to win the EFL Championship over recent seasons, and how those chosen teams actually fared.

Let’s take a look at the outright favourites from the 2018/19 season to the 2021/22 season and see where they finished.

• 2018/19 favourites - Stoke City, 5/1 - finished 11th
• 2019/20 favourites - Leeds United, 4/1, finished 1st
• 2020/21 favourites - Watford and Brentford, 9/4, finished 2nd and 3rd respectively
• 2021/22 favourites - Fulham, 5/1, finished 1st

*Odds taken from selected bookmakers prior to the start of each season.

As you can see, the bookies only correctly guessed the outright Championship winner on two occasions. Watford and Brentford did indeed see promotion in 2020/21, but neither of these teams won the title that season.

The Championship is a lot more difficult to predict than the Premier League or a cup competition and it can be said that although it may be simple to predict who’ll get promoted, predicting who wins the title is another matter entirely.

Championship Betting Tips Summary

Betting on the EFL Championship can be tricky due to the league’s unpredictability and habit of producing shock results. A team (such as Stoke City in 2018/19) can be strongly backed to win 1st place only to see dismal seasons where they aren’t even in play-off contention. Conversely, teams who look rooted in mid-table at Christmas can all of a sudden compete for a promotion place.

It is this instability that makes the Championship difficult for punters, but great for fans. Before you throw out your EFL Championship bets, make sure you’re as confident as possible that they’ll be successful.