As with every season, there will be plenty of hope for all 72 EFL clubs heading into the 2026-27 season. However, the new season will not be a triumph for everyone, so here’s a look at the eight clubs most likely to suffer in the EFL Championship next season.
With the end-of-season play-offs behind us, the structure of the EFL Championship for 2026-27 has been set.
While many clubs would hope to complete their season with promotion to the Premier League, others will be more concerned with survival in 2026-27. With three clubs set to drop at the conclusion of the season, here’s our rating of eight clubs who may need to look over their own shoulders.
8Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers had reason to be optimistic heading into the start of last season after finishing seventh in the Championship in 2024-25. But things didn’t go quite as planned. They failed not get above 18th in the table after the middle of September, and head coach Valerien Ismael was fired at the start of February, with the team in relegation danger.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill was brought in to replace him under the somewhat unusual condition that he be permitted to continue managing his national side until the end of the season. O’Neill had one job: maintain Rovers in the Championship, which he did, but only by five points, with three away victories over Millwall, Birmingham City, and Sheffield United enough to ensure their status for another season.
O’Neill left the club at the end of the season, citing a potential conflict of interest, and has since signed a long-term contract with Northern Ireland, though he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to dual management. Slaven Bilic had been heavily connected with the Blackburn post, but he reportedly turned it down after conversations. Rovers instead chose Tony Mowbray, bringing him back to the club.
Mowbray is a safe pair of hands, but with only two places above the relegation zone last season and long-standing dissatisfaction among fans with the club’s owners, 2026-27 could be another challenging season.
7 Portsmouth
Despite finishing 18th in the Championship previous season, Portsmouth’s manager, John Mousinho, was in high demand. He had been linked to the empty positions at Bristol City and Stoke City.
Mousinho hasn’t gone anywhere yet, and Pompey fans on social media are certain that he won’t be lured by what they see as a “sideways move,” which, based on the previous two seasons, should keep Pompey out of the bottom three.
Portsmouth will hope to maintain the momentum they established in the later stages of last season, when they lost only one of their last eight games. Nonetheless, even before a ball is kicked, they appear to be one of the teams that will struggle.
6Queens Park Rangers
Few Championship clubs were as unexpected as Queens Park Rangers in the 2025-26 season. This is, after all, the club that responded to a 7-1 loss at Coventry City in August by going six games unbeaten in the Championship. Rangers finished 15th in the Championship for the second season in a row, albeit it was concerning that they did so with four consecutive defeats.
speculations circulated that Julien Stephan was due to depart the club at the end of the season, with sources indicating that he was interested in many unnamed Ligue 1 clubs, but he quickly dismissed the speculations.
His first task this summer could be the Rangers’ defence. With 73 goals conceded in 46 matches, they were the division’s second-weakest team, trailing only Sheffield Wednesday. QPR finished the season 15 points short of a play-off spot, and strengthening their backline will be crucial if they are to improve on a record that has only seen them finish above mid-table twice in the last eleven years.
5Bolton Wanderers
It was a long time coming. Three second-half goals sealed Bolton Wanderers’ 4-1 victory against Stockport County in the League One play-off final, marking their return to the second division after a seven-year hiatus during which they dipped as low as League Two due to financial difficulties.
Bolton are aware that they will need to churn their squad in order to be prepared for what the Championship will throw at them, and new heroes will most likely be required if they are to make a success of the 2026/27 season by staying up. Seven years is a long time to be away from this division, and Bolton’s fifth-place performance in the League One towards the end of 2025-26 raises concerns about their ability to handle the step-up.
Their home form will most likely be crucial.
4Preston North End
Preston North End were in fourth place in the table at the start of January, pushing hard for a play-off spot, only for the wheels to come off their challenge in the final weeks of the season. By the end of the season, they were in 14th place, and their dreams of returning to English football’s top flight for the first time since 1961 were faded.
Preston, like Queens Park Rangers, has been in the Championship for years without making the play-offs, but adding Alfie Devine ahead of some of their divisional rivals is a positive move.
Devine was, of course, a member of the Preston squad when the wheels came off last season, and he needs help if he is to ensure more success in the coming season. At this point, however, they will be one of the clubs that punters expect to struggle.
3Cardiff City
One of the challenges of working with a young and clearly bright boss is that success will pique the curiosity of others at precisely the wrong time.
When Cardiff City was demoted from the Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season, they faced a crossroads. However, as much as he is reviled, club owner Vincent Tan appears to have pulled off a coup in recruiting and, as of this writing, retaining Brian Barry-Murphy.
Barry-Murphy is well regarded in the game, and he has been linked with the vacant managerial role at Burnley.
One unexpected departure this summer is midfielder Ryan Wintle, who finished last season as the club’s Player and Players’ Player of the Year. Wintle is departing Cardiff City Stadium after five years with the club, which he described as “a decision that was completely out of my control.”
It’s rarely easy for a freshly promoted team to navigate a division, and after leading the table from the beginning of December until the end of February, finishing 12 points behind winners Lincoln City was disappointing. However, the highly regarded young manager remains with Cardiff City for the time being, which could prove to be significant.
2Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic was expected to have a difficult season in 2025-26 after being promoted from League One via the play-offs at the end of 2024-25, and so it proved, albeit after a strong start that put them in a play-off position by the first week of November. The Addicks finished the season in 19th place in the table, and a run of only one win in their last nine league games raised concerns heading into the summer break.
Given how Charlton Athletic faltered in the last stages of the season, manager Nathan Jones will need a solid start to 2026-27, or his position could be jeopardised by the autumn, if not sooner.
1Lincoln City
Lincoln City were the biggest surprise of the whole EFL during the 2025-26 season, scoring an astonishing 103 points in League One and finishing 12 points ahead of second-placed Cardiff City and 26 points ahead of third-place Stockport County. Furthermore, this came out of nowhere, since they finished the previous season in 11th position in the rankings.
However, the enormity of the challenge ahead of them is enormous, with Michael Skubala departing for Bristol City and continuity being the Imps’ path forward, with Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw replacing him. The Imps have been in the EFL since 1892, but they have only played at this level for twelve years in the last century, and not at all since 1960-61.
Winning the League One title in a row last season was a fantastic accomplishment, but the Championship can be a brutal environment, and they will need to work extremely hard to stay above the relegation zone following a rocky start to the summer.
However, if they can carry their form from one season to the next, they have a good chance. Lincoln finished the 2025-26 season unbeaten in their last 29 games, dating back to a 3-2 setback against Wycombe Wanderers on November 22nd. Furthermore, they only dropped twelve points in 29 games, including six draws.
Next season will be a tremendous test, but if form can be carried over from season to season, they may still be able to compete. It’s hard to believe that next season marks the tenth anniversary of them becoming the first non-league club to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals in over a century.
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