EFL clubs are due to vote on a proposal that would expand the Championship playoffs from four to six teams, a change that would alter the route to the Premier League and could benefit Wrexham. According to The Guardian, 72 EFL clubs are invited to the meeting, which will unfold on Mar. 5, to cast their votes about potentially allowing two more teams\u2014those that finish in seventh and eighth\u2014to participate in the Championship playoffs.<\/p>\n
The new playoff structure would take effect next season if a simple majority of the 72 clubs and the 24 Championship sides vote to instate the changes approved by the EFL board. Reported options lean towards a model similar to the National League. Under that format the clubs finishing third and fourth would advance directly to the semi-finals. Teams finishing fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth would contest one-off knockout ties to determine the remaining semi-finalists.<\/p>\n
In that scenario the fifth-placed team would play the eighth-placed team, while the sixth-place team would match up with the seventh-placed team. The higher-ranked club would have the advantage of hosting the single-leg tie. The playoffs would then continue as normal, with the semi-finals played across two legs and the winners progressing to the final at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n
For Wrexham the proposal matters because the club\u2019s long-term aim is Premier League football after a rapid rise since 2021. In their first Championship campaign in 43 years, the Red Dragons have a chance to secure a record-fourth consecutive promotion following the takeover by co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021. Phil Parkinson\u2019s men currently sit sixth in the standings through 31 games, keeping the playoffs within reach.<\/p>\n
If Wrexham drop out of the top six by the end of 2025\u201326 or fail in the playoffs, their stay in the Championship would be extended for at least another season. The vote on Mar. 5 could change the pathway those ambitions follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EFL clubs will vote on expanding Championship playoffs to six teams; implications for Wrexham. Next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1249,1421],"tags":[1162,1458],"class_list":["post-6780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-championship","category-wrexham","tag-analytics","tag-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}