Best EFL Championship Futures in 2025/26
by Sam Cox | by Tyler Doty
Ipswich are the betting favorites to win the EFL Championship in 2025/26 ahead of Southampton and Birmingham City. The world’s most competitive division is never short of surprises, though, so we are bound to see some outsiders overachieve.
Some of the league’s wealthier clubs are guaranteed to disappoint, too. Stoke City, Swansea, and Watford are recent examples of clubs who failed to turn the parachute payments into another shot at the Premier League. All three of those clubs have shorter odds to be relegated than they do to earn promotion.
As ever, there’s a chasm between the haves and have-nots. Oxford United have a stadium with a capacity of 12,500. Charlton’s payroll is only a fraction of the league’s top clubs. Sheffield United’s average attendance was over 30,000 last season, which is almost three times the capacity of Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground.
Despite their small ground, Hollywood-backed Wrexham are more likely to be promoted than win the league, according to FanDuel’s latest odds. The Robins have added Conor Coady, Kieffer Moore, and Lewis O’Brien among others, as they look to continue their march up the English football pyramid.
Here are the best EFL Championship futures bets for the new season:
Stoke City To Be Relegated - +800 at DraftKings
Only two teams had a worse expected goal difference than Stoke City in 2024/25. Mark Robins took the Potters away from the drop zone after replacing Narcis Pelach on New Year’s Day, but it was a narrow escape on the final day of the season.
Jordan Thompson, Lynden Gooch, Wouter Berger, Sol Sidibe, and Enda Stevens are among the players to depart. Aaron Cresswell brings experience at left-back, but a lot of faith is being placed in Sorba Thomas and Maksym Talovierov to bring the necessary quality.
Stoke have been trending in the wrong direction since suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2018. Another tumultuous season could see the end of their Championship stay – these odds seem very generous given how poor the Potters were for most of last season.
Tyrese Campbell To Be Top Scorer - +2200 at FanDuel
In the 79th percentile in non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes over the last 365 days, Tyrese Campbell averaged a league goal every 158 minutes for Sheffield United in 2024/25.
Ten goals in 20 league starts is a more than satisfactory return. Only seven players averaged more expected goals per 90 minutes.
Kieffer Moore’s departure opens up more starts as the center forward for Campbell, who led the line for the Blades in their opening match of the season. He also found the net in the loss to Bristol City.
Sheffield United are going to be in the promotion mix once again. It looks like new manager Ruben Selles will be relying on Campbell as his main goal-scoring threat.
Wrexham To Be Promoted - +800 at FanDuel
This season marks the second time in Wrexham’s history that they will be competing in the second tier of English football. Gunning for a third consecutive promotion, Wrexham have invested heavily in the first team squad this summer.
Conor Coady and Kieffer Moore bring Championship experience. Ryan Hardie, Danny Ward, Lewis O’Brien, and Josh Windass are part of another summer revamp at the Racecourse Ground, with more signings likely to come before the window shuts at the end of the month.
New Zealand international Liberato Cacace has made 30+ starts in each of the last two Serie A seasons. Wrexham have a squad capable of challenging for promotion and will likely be in the playoff mix at the very least.
Southampton To Win The League - +450 at DraftKings
Southampton had a historically awful 2024/25 in the Premier League. They narrowly avoided the lowest points total in Premier League history and were on the wrong end of several embarrassing defeats.
The south-coast club is turning a new leaf in 2025/26, however, with highly regarded young manager Will Still at the helm. Joshua Quarshie and Damion Downs are the only two new signings at the time of writing, and several first-teamers have left the club, but that’s nothing to be too concerned about.
Quarshie and Downs add to an already talented squad. A high-upside young core is accompanied by experienced heads like Jack Stephens and Ben Brereton Diaz. This group is capable of putting up 95+ points if they can shake off the bad feeling from last season.
Middlesbrough To Finish In Top Six - +175 at DraftKings
A 10th-placed finish represented a major disappointment for Middlesbrough and led to Michael Carrick being replaced by Rob Edwards in the dugout. Edwards guided Luton Town to the Premier League in 2022/23, and has seen his squad bolstered with Alfie Jones, Callum Brittain, and Abdoulaye Kante.
Boro were fifth in expected goal difference last season. Only two of the teams above them are still in the Championship. Carrick created one of the division’s most prolific attacking units, leaving Edwards the challenge of building a solid defense.
Despite missing the playoffs in the last two seasons, it’s fair to say Middlesbrough have been unlucky not to consistently challenge. They have been in the top six by expected goal difference in each season since 2019/20. This might finally be their year to get another crack at the playoffs, or maybe automatic promotion is within their reach.
