The English Championship is the second-tier of the English Premier League. For so many reasons, you may be curious to know how many matches are played in the English Championship per season.
Worry less.
This article will provide you with a breakdown of the total number of Championship matches per season.
Championship Fixture Structure
startsThe English Championship usually start in the last week of July – a week before the Premier League starts – and ends in May.
For the 2022/23 Championship, it began on Friday 29th July 2022 – just one week before the Premier League starts.
How Many Teams Play in The Championship?
At the moment 24 teams play in the English Championship, unlike the Premier League that has just 20.
Every season, 3 teams are relegated to the League one and 3 teams are promoted to the Premier League.
How Many Matches Could A Championship Team Play?
Since there are 24 teams in the Championship, that means each team would play 46 matches per season.
How did we arrive at 46?
Out of 24 teams, each team would have to play 23 other teams twice (home and away). That means 23 X 2 = 46 matches in total to be played by Championship.
However, when we consider the Championship playoff matches, some teams would obviously play more than 46 matches per season. Read up how the Championship playoffs work.
In the play-off, two teams play 2 matches while the other play 3 matches.
In essence, some teams could play up to 48 or 49 matches in the English Championship including Playoffs.
How Many Matches Are Played In The Championship in Total?
Remember that 24 teams compete in the Championship. Therefore, there are 46 match days because each team would play 46 matches in total, as explained above.
Also, remember that having 24 teams competing means there would be 12 fixtures per week or match day.
Therefore, the total number of matches (excluding playoffs) in a Championship season is 552 (12 [fixtures per week] X 46 [matchdays]).
However, if Playoffs are considered, the total number of Championship matches is 557.
How did we arrive at 557?
Well, there are 5 matches in the Playoffs – 4 Semifinal (home and away) fixtures + 1 Final match.
Read more on how Championship Playoffs work.
552 Championship matches + 5 Playoff matches = 557 Championship matches in total.
In contrast, there are just 380 Premier League matches in total.
Players with most championship appearances
Albert Adomah has the most Championship appearances, with 472 in total.
Richard Keogh is just behind Albert Adomah with 457 Championship Apps.
See below the top 10 players with most Championship Appearances.
| SN | Players | Total Apps | Start | Sub |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albert Adomah | 472 | 356 | 147 |
| 2 | Richard Keogh | 457 | 454 | 11 |
| 3 | Luke Chambers | 455 | 441 | 45 |
| 4 | David Marshall | 447 | 446 | 81 |
| 5 | Cole Skuse | 427 | 391 | 51 |
| 6 | Lee Camp | 421 | 420 | 74 |
| 7 | Michael Morrison | 415 | 410 | 54 |
| 8 | Chris Gunter | 414 | 399 | 42 |
| 9 | Tom Lees | 413 | 404 | 21 |
| 10 | Chris Martin | 405 | 315 | 128 |
Conclusion
It is clear now by how much margin the number of Championship matches are more than those of the Premier League.
To reiterate, there are 452 Championship matches in a season, excluding playoffs.
However, with playoffs, the grand total number of matches in a championship season is 457.
Furthermore, a single team plays a total of 46 Championship matches, excluding playoffs. The playoffs finalists would play 49 matches in total while semifinalists play 48.
In a nutshell, the English Championship could be gruesome given how many matches are played in a season.
Further Reading:
- How Many UCL Matches Are There Per Season?
- What is the New Premier League Loan Rule?
- Young PFA Award B2B Winners
- Who is the best Premier League Midfielder ever?
- Who is the best Premier League Center Back ever?
