The Championship, now in its 20th year, may not match the Premier League for quality, but its entertainment and unpredictability provide the best form of drama; the new Championship season starts on Friday August 9, and it is available to watch live on Sky Sports+
Saturday 10 August 2024 14:42, UK
The Championship has a distinctive charm. So bonkers, that participating clubs are only ever a few weeks, or a few results, away from the unease of the drop zone while seemingly still able to mount a promotion challenge. Jeopardy and unpredictability go hand in hand.
Its importance to the footballing ecosystem cannot be underestimated either - 19 of England's Euro 2024 squad this summer have previously played Championship football. Of those 19, seven started the final against Spain.
The Championship class of 2024/25, by club, includes one former Premier League champion, seven First Division winners, 12 FA Cup winners (seven who have won it more than once), a European Cup runner-up, a UEFA Cup runner-up and eight League Cup, now known as the EFL Cup, winners. Quite the trophy cabinet.
No other second tier in world football can boast a spread of honours so great.
The league's unpredictability is also part of the appeal. 2023/24's action reel was packed with entertainment, and a generous helping of drama: Ipswich secured back-to-back promotions, Michael Beale lasted 63 days at Sunderland, Wayne Rooney endured 83 at Birmingham, Milutin Osmajic scored a seven-minute hat-trick and Wesley Hoedt found the net from the halfway line. Individual moments that add the collective richness of a league crowing with variety and endless intrigue.
There is an abundance of young, exciting talent too, and an odd but brilliantly fascinating assortment of managers. Vincent Kompany and Enzo Maresca, who both won the Championship title with Burnley (2023) and Leicester (2024) respectively, at the first time of trying, have since landed tops jobs in the Premier League and Bundesliga.
But the Championship is more than just a platform. It's a breeding ground. Former players turned managers pit their wits against stalwarts of the game, in a pick-and-mix style miscellany.
Michael Carrick (Middlesbrough), Tom Cleverley (Watford), Scott Parker (Burnley) and of course Rooney (Plymouth) will go up against Chris Wilder (Sheffield Utd), Daniel Farke (Leeds) and Mark Robins (Coventry) next season. Managerial first-timers Danny Rohl (Sheffield Wednesday) and John Mousinho (Portsmouth) are also in play. Plenty of tactical nuance to provoke intrigue.
Of course, the Championship is by no means perfect. The relentless pursuit of the Premier League can be unforgiving - and has been crippling in some cases - but makes for the most compelling of rewards for those select few who make it. Luton and Ipswich, modest clubs by top-flight comparison, are recent benefactors of the system's spoils and legitimate reason for others to dream.
And that's the irony, right? The thrill of the Championship actually comes from those teams most determined to smash through its glass ceiling - ideally, never to return.
Each club has a specific role to play, and most are unassigned until some months into a campaign. There will be the protagonist, though not always the frontrunner, the outlier, the surprise package, those that rise from the dead - as QPR and Sheffield Wednesday did last season - and those that fall by the wayside. Because, well, that's sport.
Some guises change almost weekly, what's consistent, though, is that football is regularly the winner. Trite though that may sound, it's what keeps record-breaking numbers of fans flocking for more. It's what has prompted A-list names - most recently NFL superstar Tom Brady at Birmingham City - to become investors and ultimatley enthusiasts.
Beyond the spectacle of it all, is new wealth, huge attendances, frenzied fandom and raw experience. Stories of rebirth and renaissance, triumph and turbulence. Rejuvenation that only the uniqueness of the English pyramid makes possible.
Last season 12,723,678 fans walked through the turnstiles of a Championship match - the highest-ever cumulative attendance for a second-tier competition since records began in 1892. That figure beats attendees at La Liga games, as well as the Bundesliga and Serie A last year.
The Championship now places as the richest non-top-flight division in the world, as well as the most highly attended, with the play-off final estimated to be valued at £305m to its lucky winner (across a three-year period).
Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Ollie Watkins are among its most prominent alumni - all now England internationals - while Archie Gray is the latest youngster to be plucked in a multi-million-pound deal by a Premier League giant. For context, since 2004-05, Championship clubs have pocketed £3,834,108,124bn from player exports.
And yet, it's where the heart of "competitive balance" can be found, and where the playing field is most even. Where unpredictability thrives, and uncertainty is celebrated.
It might not match the Premier League for quality, but its obvious charm continues to be undeniable.
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