Forum | Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place by LimehouseR

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Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place 11:18 - Mar 5 with 10492 views

Just saw this has been voted for by the clubs and will come in to play next season, with a system which is currently in place in the conference league.

Obviously, this won't effect us and our usual season finish of 16th!

But I can't decide whether or not this is a good thing really. If you finished 3rd and a good number of points clear of 7/8th place and you lost to them in the final you would be pretty hacked off. But I guess those will now be the rules.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:21 - Mar 5 with 7157 views

Ned_Kennedys

For a consistently lower mid table team like us it definitely benefits us.
For a recently relegated team expected to challenge at the top it makes it harder for them if they miss the top 2 and that’s a good thing.

[Post edited 5 Mar 11:25]

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:22 - Mar 5 with 7139 views

loftus77

Sad to reflect that this news, while important, is utterly irrelevant to us and will be for a fair few seasons to come - imho.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:23 - Mar 5 with 7130 views

stevec

When they extend it to 16th place, then we can talk

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:27 - Mar 5 with 7078 views

E17hoop

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/fo

Good things:
Commercial revenue – more teams in with a shout for playoffs should lead to bigger crowds at competing teams
Fan engagement – the socials and 'noise' will, arguably, be a good thing.
For Sky, there's loads more tension they can ramp up and televised games with better audiences.

Bad things:
The Championship is the most financially distorted league in the world, and expanding from 4 to 6 teams will intensify the incentive to overspend to get to the Prem.
Parachute payments won't improve, and it arguably extends the two-tier system down the table.
Teams finishing eighth can be 15 points behind third. Should a one-off playoff game destroy a club's season because of Sky's shíts and giggles?
The comparison to the National League is spurious – the financial stakes, squad depth differentials, and promotion consequences at that level are not comparable.

If you think the Championship is 'entertainment', you'll be happy. If the Championship is primarily a sporting competition, you'll be disappointed.

	It's always noisiest at the shallow end
Poll:	System of A Down vs England WC SF

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:31 - Mar 5 with 7048 views

BlackAndGoldRanger

Fantastic news for Spurs looking to return to the prem at the 1st time of asking.

Overall nobody outside of the money men wants this.

See you at Wembley in May 2027 after finishing 8th 25 points behind league winners Burnley.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:43 - Mar 5 with 6967 views

loftus77

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:23 - Mar 5 by stevec
When they extend it to 16th place, then we can talk

absolutely!

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:43 - Mar 5 with 6966 views

Markofthegrove

This is not the reform the football league needs.

The BFC (Big Fu***ng Change) is going to 4 leagues of 20. That negates the national leagues protest about 3 up 3 down as well.

This is sticking plaster and just adds more games, where the teams with the biggest resources win out.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:58 - Mar 5 with 6868 views

KensalT

The EFL statement is brief and to the point:

https://www.efl.com/news/2026/

I'm intrigued about the very last line:

"The exact final format will be agreed later in 2026."

Why does there need to be discussion about the final?

What fresh hell could they be hiding up their sleeve?

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:08 - Mar 5 with 6812 views

Snipper

I like the National League playoff structure. I’ve heard fans of the teams who finish second and third say that they’re disadvantaged by not playing while the 4 teams below them battle it out to play them.

In the Championship, the teams finishing third and fourth should play 1 game at home to get to the final. The downside is that they wouldn’t have played for however long.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:31 - Mar 5 with 6707 views

dmm

It's football capitalism. As Andrea True once said, "More, more, more (How do you like it?)."

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:46 - Mar 5 with 6643 views

Andybrat

So assuming we get to the magic 50 ( still a risk methinks) and no major tweaks to the squad I genuinely feel this might be good timing. You could argue it does dilute the parachute payment advantage. Our squad is stronger, if fit, and Morgan, Walsh,Bennie even Esqu will be championship ready. Still feel we have the death spiral from hell in us though

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:48 - Mar 5 with 6630 views

Logman

What a load of b*ll*cks

I don't want to see us go up having finished 8th and then to be slaughtered every week in the Prem

Wouldn't mind seeing it happen to Millwall, Norwich, Stoke, Cardiff etc. however

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:53 - Mar 5 with 6595 views

QPR_Hibs

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:58 - Mar 5 by KensalT
The EFL statement is brief and to the point: https://www.efl.com/news/2026/ I'm intrigued about the very last line: "The exact final format will be agreed later in 2026." Why does there need to be discussion about the final? What fresh hell could they be hiding up their sleeve?

Beautifully ambiguous use of the word "final" there.

Perhaps they mean the exact conclusive format of the playoffs will be agreed later..... rather than the format for the actual final game itself?

"Remember to listen to me but look at her. Don't get it the wrong way round. That would be hideous."

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:55 - Mar 5 with 6576 views

TheChef

They just can't stop tinkering can they?

Poll:

How old is everyone on here?

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:56 - Mar 5 with 6560 views

hubble

On a related side issue, does anyone else think parachute payments should be stopped? All it does is create this demi-league of yoyo clubs that is unfair on all other championship clubs. Why should a club be compensated for getting relegated?

Poll:

Who is your player of the season?

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:57 - Mar 5 with 6559 views

Match82

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 11:43 - Mar 5 by Markofthegrove
This is not the reform the football league needs. The BFC (Big Fu***ng Change) is going to 4 leagues of 20. That negates the national leagues protest about 3 up 3 down as well. This is sticking plaster and just adds more games, where the teams with the biggest resources win out.

I'd feel a lot more nervous finishing 16th every year if there's only 20 teams in the division

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:02 - Mar 5 with 6537 views

KensalT

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:53 - Mar 5 by QPR_Hibs
Beautifully ambiguous use of the word "final" there. Perhaps they mean the exact conclusive format of the playoffs will be agreed later..... rather than the format for the actual final game itself?

You might be right.

But wouldn't it then be easier and clearer just to say that the "exact format" will be worked out later?

No need to use the word "final" at all. Unless there is some further meddling in the pipeline.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:07 - Mar 5 with 6513 views

Juzzie

Don't bother busting a gut for 3rd place. Cruise along nicely around 6th, 7th, 8th and let all the other teams pick up injuries, suspensions etc as they all battle for 3rd and you then have a good full strength team for the play offs.

[Post edited 5 Mar 13:08]

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:41 - Mar 5 with 6364 views

Northernr

I'm interested, when voting for things like this, getting rid of FA Cup replays, allowing Prem teams in the EFL Trophy, introducing VAR...

Is there a single team that polls its season ticket holders and members to see how they feel before they vote? AFC Wimbledon?

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:45 - Mar 5 with 6347 views

DannyPaddox

EFL clubs to vote on expanding Championship playoffs to six clubs by dmm 10 Feb 16:45
EFL clubs will next month vote on an expansion of the Championship playoffs to six teams after being given approval to pursue the radical change by the Football Association’s board. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/feb/10/efl-clubs-vote-expanding-championship-playoffs-to-six-clubs

Do we really need any more football matches?

4 page debate about this a couple of weeks ago. The “creates loads more fixtures” argument is a red-herring. It will add one or two more fixtures for a couple of teams in a season or perhaps no extra fixtures will happen if they make the semi-finals one-leg.

I’m going to watch a Serie C game in Italy next week. The play-offs from the three regional-leagues of Serie C to the one league of Serie B - now that’s something else. The Open University does modules on it.

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:55 - Mar 5 with 6312 views

BAWHoops

In reality it's 2 extra games.
So 5th will play home to 8th and 6th home to 7th.
After that it's regular play offs.

So if we froze the table now you'd have
Hull v Derby
Wrexham v Saints

Then across 2 legs you'd get
Ipswich v whoever the lowest place team that won their game was
Millwall v second lowest place team

What it actually looks like to me is ANOTHER way to benefit parachute payment clubs who tend to finish 4th and 5th by giving them 1 less game to get back to the Prem.

http://blogandwhitehoops.wordpress.com/

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 14:00 - Mar 5 with 6296 views

wombat

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 12:48 - Mar 5 by Logman
What a load of bllcks I don't want to see us go up having finished 8th and then to be slaughtered every week in the Prem Wouldn't mind seeing it happen to Millwall, Norwich, Stoke, Cardiff etc. however

dosnt make much diff most clubs who go up be it in 2nd 3rd etc will be battered in the prem so going up in 8th makes little diff , a hammering is a hammering , something we have had way to many times this season and will continue to do prob

Poll:

which is your favouite foot

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 14:09 - Mar 5 with 6268 views

TheChef

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:45 - Mar 5 by DannyPaddox

Yes the Italian play-out, play-off, play-doh model is really quite something.

Poll:

How old is everyone on here?

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 14:27 - Mar 5 with 6205 views

KensalT

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 13:41 - Mar 5 by Northernr
I'm interested, when voting for things like this, getting rid of FA Cup replays, allowing Prem teams in the EFL Trophy, introducing VAR... Is there a single team that polls its season ticket holders and members to see how they feel before they vote? AFC Wimbledon?

Wimbledon are a private limited company:

https://find-and-update.compan

They don't have to consult their members.

They could if they wanted to but then you have to think about the cost of arranging the poll, and the time it would take.

Wikipedia does have a page of English fan-owned clubs.

I took a quick skim and I think Exeter and Chesterfield are the only ones in the EFL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Even then I would assume they appoint a board which has the power to decide the questions you outlined.

EDIT - AFC Wimbledon are on the list of fan owned clubs. But their legal structure is still that of a private limited company.

[Post edited 5 Mar 14:31]

Playoff positions to be extended to 7 & 8th place on 14:30 - Mar 5 with 6184 views

digswellhoop

dont like play offs
just make it top 3

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