The 2023/24 Championship season gets under way on August 4th and it looks to be another typically competitive edition with plenty of contenders to reach the promised land of the Premier League.
2023/24 Championship Promotion Odds
Odds courtesy of bet365, correct at the time of publishing and subject to change.Team | Odds |
Leicester | 11/8 |
Leeds | 9/4 |
Southampton | 5/2 |
Middlesbrough | 3/1 |
Norwich | 9/2 |
Watford | 9/2 |
West Brom | 5/1 |
Ipswich | 11/2 |
Stoke | 6/1 |
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Leicester, Leeds and Southampton have returned to the second tier after succumbing to relegation and head the market to bounce back at the first time of asking.
Ipswich, Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday all managed to make their way out of an ultra-competitive League One last season and may even be eyeing up back-to-back promotions.
Leicester lead the market
Leicester were the biggest price of any of the three teams to go down from the Premier League but the 2020/21 FA Cup winners were condemned to the drop after Everton’s victory on the final day of the season.
The Foxes won the Premier League title in the biggest upset in the history of the competition in 2015/16 but just seven years later they now return to the Championship, where they have been installed as 11/8 favourites to bounce straight back to the top flight.
That is despite the fact James Maddison has moved to Tottenham and Youri Tielemans has departed for Aston Villa. There are also concerns about Harvey Barnes’s future.
Manchester City assistant Enzo Maresca takes over from Dean Smith as Foxes manager in just his second senior managerial position after a stint at Parma in 2021.
Relegated teams lead the way
Joining Leicester at the head of the promotion market are fellow relegated sides Leeds and Southampton.
The Whites are 5/2 to be promoted in the 2023/24 season while the Saints are 9/4 shots, with former Swansea manager Russell Martin taking the helm at St Mary’s.
The parachute payments received by these teams and any transfer fees they might receive for their star players are likely to give them a financial advantage over their Championship rivals.
However, all three relegated sides are likely to experience major transition with their squads and managers likely to be very different from their spell in the top flight.
They may also be concerned by the fact that Burnley were the only team to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking last season, with Watford and Norwich failing to even make the play-offs.
Play-off losers not among front rank
Of the first nine in the betting for promotion in the 2023/24 Championship season, only one is a team who reached last season’s play-offs, Middlesbrough.
Michael Carrick’s men are 3/1 to be promoted, the shortest price of any side bar the relegated trio, and they will be boosted by their form under the ex-Manchester United man, who has won 18 of his 33 games in charge.
The team that beat Boro to make the play-off final, Coventry, are 6/1 chances to go up next season, but the Sky Blues have seen Viktor Gyokeres head to Sporting in Portugal and Gustavo Hamer has been linked to a Premier League move.
Sunderland also missed out on promotion through the play-offs but are 7/1 chances to go up this season, with Ipswich, Stoke, Norwich, Watford and West Brom ahead of them in the betting.