2026/27 Championship tips:
- West Ham to win the- Championship- - 7/4- Betfred
- Wolves to be promoted - 13/8- Bet365
- Bolton to be relegated - 11/8- BetVictor
The 2026/27 Championship season begins on 14 August, with 20 of the top teams in the country currently putting the finishing touches on their bids for promotion to the top flight of English football.
West Ham United, Burnley and Wolves will be hoping to make a return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, while teams including Middlesbrough, Southampton and Birmingham City will once again be hunting that elusive promotion.
At the other end of the table it’ll be a battle for survival for some sides, with newly promoted Lincoln City, Bolton Wanderers and Cardiff all looking to stay in the second division.
As is often the case ahead of the season starting, football bookmakers currently have the Premier League’s three relegated sides – West Ham, Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers – as favourites to get promoted this season. The Hammers are priced at 7/4 to win the league outright, with Wolves and the Clarets at 13/8 and 11/4 respectively to be promoted.
Nevertheless, there’ll be several more sides hunting a promotion, with those who’ve come close recently – such as Southampton and Boro – hoping to once again be in the fight.
At the other end of the table, the newly promoted teams are all favoured to go down ahead of the new season, though any side who struggled last term – such as Charlton or Blackburn – could find themselves dragged into a relegation dogfight again.
Championship title tip: Hammers to prove too strong for second division
West Ham were probably the most surprising of the three relegated sides in the top flight last season, but the Hammers are favoured to come back up at the first time of asking, with betting sites pricing them as low as 8/15 to be promoted.
It is a reflection of the quality throughout the squad, with the likes of Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Taty Castellanos among several players who are simply a step above Championship level.
The Hammers are targeting more reinforcements as well, with Simon Adingra, Manor Solomon and Troy Parrott reportedly on their list of transfer targets this month.
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has stayed on too, giving the club some sort of stability as they embark on their newest challenge, and they will of course benefit from the Portuguese’s wealth of top-flight experience too.
When combining the experience of both players and the manager, as well as the level of relative quality throughout the team, it is easy to see why the bookies have the Hammer’s as such favourites, and we expect to see them in the top flight again come 2027/28.
2026/27 Championship tip 1: West Ham to win the Championship - 7/4 Betfred
Championship promotion tip: Wolves to return to top flight at first time of asking?
Though West Ham look to have the most quality in their side ahead of the new season starting, plenty can happen at the top of the Championship and it’s likely that three or four sides will be vying to finish in the top two to gain automatic promotion.
Teams who came close last season, such as Boro and Southampton, will hope to be in the fight once again, though they could find themselves at a disadvantage against the teams who came down from the top flight last season.
At the moment, the bookies have Wolves as the most likely team to go up alongside West Ham, with fellow relegated side Burnley next up.
While Wolves finished bottom of the Premier League after a dismal season last term, the arrival of a new manager and some potentially key players has brought renewed hope to the Molineux.
Portuguese manager Cesar Peixoto arrives from Gil Vicente, bringing top-flight experience in his home country after an impressive sixth-placed finish with the minnows last season.
In addition, the arrivals of Raul Jimenez and Kieran Trippier bring plenty of experience, while Rafiki Said and Ladislav Krejci – who returns after last season’s loan – bring more quality too.
On paper it is certainly one of the more talented squads in the league, and if Peixoto can get it all to click, Wolves should be able to challenge fur automatic promotion and even the title.
2026/27 Championship tip 2: Wolves to be promoted - 13/8 Bet365
Unsurprisingly, the three teams who came up from League One last term – Bolton, Lincoln City and Cardiff City – are the three favourites to go down ahead of the new season starting.
Lincoln are seen as the most likely to go down despite finishing top of League One last term, with odds as low as 8/11 for the The Imps to go down.
However, Bolton are arguably a more compelling case for relegation, not least because they finished 28 points behind their rivals last season.
The Trotters won the play-off final last term and will once again be led by Steven Schumacher, who has previously managed at both Stoke City and Plymouth Argyle. While he won a League One title at the latter, his experience in the second division was far more negative at Stoke, and there will be doubts over his pedigree if Bolton don’t get off to a good start this month.
As for the squad, a number of reinforcements have arrived on free transfers, with Liverpool U21 defender Luca Stephenson the only transfer fee paid at under £1m. While there is still time, it makes for worrying reading for Bolton fans as the new season kicks off in under a fortnight.
On paper, a squad that is mostly made up of players who finished fifth in League One last season does not look cut out to survive in one of the most difficult football leagues in Europe, and as it stands we think the Trotters are heading back down to League One.
2026/27 Championship tip 3: Bolton to be relegated - 11/8 BetVictor
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