Credit: Imago/Sky Bet Championship on X

James Barker

Wed 27 May 2026 8:10, UK

Championship football is on the agenda for West Ham United, after the 2025-26 season ended in relegation disaster.

Despite beating Leeds United 3-0 on the final day of the season, Tottenham’s win over Everton ensured it was all for nothing in the end.

Nuno Espirito Santo‘s future as West Ham boss is uncertain, and it remains unclear as to whether the 52-year-old will lead the Hammers into the second tier.

The Irons will be expected to bounce straight back into the Premier League at the first time of asking, but that won’t be as easy as some may think.

With relegation now confirmed, West Ham Zone gives you everything you need to know about the Championship format, it’s start date, play-off and relegation structure and when the fixtures are released.

When will West Ham get their Championship fixtures?

For the first time since 2012, West Ham supporters won’t be waiting in anticipation for Premier League fixture release day.

Instead, they will now be looking out for how their Championship campaign will be ordered, and there’s certainly some juicy games to look forward to.

Millwall and West Ham will meet in the Championship, in what will be the headline fixture of the 2026-27 second-tier season.

However, Hammers fans have to wait a little while longer yet to find out when they can get their hands on the Lions.

The EFL have confirmed that the Sky Bet Championship, League One and League Two fixtures will be confirmed on Thursday, 25 June at 12pm.

When does the 2026-27 Championship season start?

One of the benefits of being in the Championship as a supporter of your club, is that you don’t have to wait as long for the league action to begin again.

Due to the number of teams in the division (24) and the increased number of games played (46) as opposed to the Premier League, the second tier season always starts earlier than the top flight.

For 2026-27, the EFL have confirmed that the Championship will begin on the weekend of 14-16 August.

Round One of the Carabao Cup – which West Ham will be involved in – will actually be the EFL curtain-raiser for next season though, and that begins on the weekend of 7-9 August.

How is the Championship structured?

24 teams make up the Championship table, with the bottom three being relegated to League One, and three teams being promoted from the third tier into the second tier respectively.

The top two teams win promotion to the Premier League automatically, with a third team being promoted via the play-offs.

Importantly, 2026-27 will see a new play-off structure brought in, expanding the post-season Premier League promotion knockout tournament from four teams to six, spanning across the sides who finish third to eighth.

The play-offs will now consist of seven fixtures, with the winners of the two single-leg eliminator ties (fifth vs eighth and sixth vs seventh – unconfirmed) progressing to the semi-finals to play whoever finishes third and fourth respectively.

Those semi-final games will be played over two legs as normal, and the winners of those will meet in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

It’s been confirmed that the exact final format of the new play-off system will be agreed later this year.