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Jon
Betting Expert

2 December 2024

Championship Football Betting

Learn more about Championship Football Betting with Whatacca.com today with our Championship guide.

The English Championship is the second professional football tier in the country, with twenty-four teams competing against each other throughout the season. It’s a very competitive division which is generally wide open and that means there are usually several clubs still challenging for promotion when it comes to the final few fixtures of the season.

With so many teams competing in the Championship, it means that every side plays a sum total of forty-six games, with the matches coming thick and fast throughout the course of the season. There are plenty of midweek programmes and a bulging betting coupon full of fixtures, with punters enjoying the chance to place In-Play bets and accumulator wagers on this division.

It’s fairly difficult to say who the leading teams are when it comes to the Championship. There are certain clubs that tend to yo-yo between the Premier League and the Championship, with West Brom, Norwich City, Watford, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United among the teams who can often be found bouncing between the two top tiers of English football.

What do you have to do to get Promoted or Relegated in the Championship?

The top two teams in the Championship standings are automatically promoted to the Premier League, while the sides who sit between third and sixth get the chance to compete in the play-offs, with third facing sixth over two games and the winner plays the victor of the two-legged tie between fourth and fifth place, with the play-off final taking place at Wembley.

The bottom three teams in the Championship are relegated to League One and there’s regularly a scrap between a number of clubs to avoid dropping down into the third professional tier of English football, although there are sometimes teams who are deducted points due to financial irregularities and that can sometimes cost them their status.

With so much up for grabs in the Sky Bet Championship, it means that virtually every team has something to play for until the final few games of the football season. A team in mid-table with a handful of games remaining can either make a late surge for the play-offs or alternatively get sucked into a relegation scrap and there is often not too much of a points difference between the teams in the play-offs and the ones just below.

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                Betting Trends in the Championship

                Due to twenty-four teams regularly being involved in Championship action, this English football division is always popular when it comes to betting on the coupon and it’s pretty common for punters to place their football accumulator bets which includes picks from this league, especially as there are so many games.

                It’s worth waiting for the Championship season to begin before trying to establish some kind of form line and understand how each team are performing during a certain part of the season. Once the campaign is in full swing, we would recommend looking at a team’s past six results to determine the sort of form that they’re enjoying at that moment in time.

                The English Championship betting coupon is often interesting due to the fact that there aren’t many teams trading at odds-on to win their respective games. Such is the nature of this competitive league that you can often get above evens about the majority of teams to win their next game and it’s worth drilling a bit deeper and looking at team news before going ahead and placing your bets.

                Beyond actually betting on the Full-Time Result betting market, there is the chance to place accumulator bets involving Championship games where you can play on Both Teams to Score or alternatively on Over/Under 2.5 Goals. Therefore, check out the latest stats to establish the percentage of recent matches where both teams have scored along with the goal count in each game.

                Outright Bets on the Championship

                Many football fans like to place outright bets on the Championship before the season has even kicked off, with recent seasons seeing some of the teams relegated from the Premier League tending to fare pretty well, with certain clubs getting a financial boost from the parachute payments after previously reaching the top flight.

                You can choose to bet on the Championship winner if you’re confident of backing the team who are going to finish top of the pile, while there’s the alternative to bet on a club to be promoted and you can often get two bites of the cherry by either landing automatic promotion or going up through the play-offs.

                History of the England Championship

                This division was originally called the Football League Second Division between 1892-1992 before it was renamed to the Football League First Division between 1992-2004. From that point onwards, it has been known as the English Football League Championship, with Sunderland being the first winners of the division in 2005 when they were automatically promoted with Wigan, while West Ham came up through the play-offs.

                Sunderland also won the Championship title during the 2006-7 season to get promoted after suffering a relegation during the previous campaign, while West Bromwich Albion have also enjoyed three promotion campaigns since 2004, with the Baggies going up in 2008, 2010 and 2020.

                Naturally, some of the most successful Championship clubs have been those that have regularly found the Premier League too hot to handle, with Wolverhampton Wanderers having regularly fitted into that bracket and they’ve enjoyed promotion in 2009 and 2018, while Burnley are another team who were promoted, relegated and then promoted again between the years 2014-16.

                A number of clubs have won the Championship title and surpassed the 100 points mark in the process, with Reading achieving this fate in the 2005/6 season when accumulating an incredible 106 points, while Newcastle United were also centurions when landing the second flight title in the 2009/10 season, while the Magpies also landed the championship in 2016 under Rafael Benitez.

                West Ham United have come up to the Premier League by winning the Championship play-offs on two occasions, with the Hammers winning in 2004-5 and 2011-12, while Fulham have also recently been successful in the play-offs, with Slavisa Jokanovic steering the Cottagers to the promised land in 2018 before Scott Parker did the same in 2020.

                Learn more about English Premier League betting and understand more about the equally competitive league.

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                Championship Teams Who Have Been Relegated

                There have been a large number of clubs who have been relegated from the England Championship over the past fifteen years, with some teams managing to return to the division and go on to get promoted to the Premier League, while others have struggled to return and sometimes sunk further down the football pyramid.

                Leeds United were notably demoted from the Championship during the 2006/7 season before the Whites re-emerged in the second flight and then achieved promotion, while Wolves undertook a similar journey when going down during the 2012/13 season before regrouping and eventually finding themselves in the top flight a few campaigns later.

                Charlton Athletic, Wigan Athletic and Hull City are some of the former Premier League clubs who have recently gone down from the Championship, while Sunderland, Burton Albion, and Ipswich Town have been in the division recently before getting relegated, while Bolton Wanderers now find themselves in League Two along with clubs such as Colchester and Scunthorpe United.

                What Are the Best Championship Football Betting Markets?

                Many football fans like to bet on the Full-Time Result betting market when it comes to Championship games. You can either choose the home win, the away win or the draw as part of this three-way market, while this market is also popular when it comes to putting together a multiple bet such as an accumulator. It’s pretty common to find a number of favourites bunched together for this purpose.

                In addition, the Double Chance betting market means that you can effectively take two of three options on the Full-Time Result market such as the home team + draw or the draw + away team. It gives you a stronger hand against the one remaining choice but you’re naturally taking shorter odds than just the one selection.

                Punters are able to bet on the Correct Score market if you’re interested in taking a bigger price and it’s not uncommon for customers to choose a couple of correct scorelines in the hope of landing on the money, while there’s a similar market in the form of First Goalscorer which can be hard to predict although you can some nice rewards if you can correctly forecast the player who will break the deadlock first.

                In addition, the Half-Time / Full-Time betting market can be an interesting option for English Championship games and that means predicting the outcome of a football match at half-time along with the outcome at full-time. There are nine options and it’s good if you have a strong fancy that there will be a one-sided encounter and want to back that team to lead at the interval and the final whistle.

                How Do I Predict the Winner of the Championship Play-Offs?

                The Championship play-offs take place when the regular football season has been completed. The teams occupying the first and second spot in the table enjoy automatic promotion to the Premier League, although the clubs who are situated between third and sixth place then compete against each other for that remaining promotion spot and we get an exciting tussle between a quartet of teams.

                The team who finishes third in the Championship table will face the club who lands sixth spot in the division, with the fourth-placed and the fifth-placed teams clashing for a place in the Wembley final and the first leg games kick off with the sixth and fifth-placed teams hosting the matches before taking to the road.

                While the third-placed team in the Championship is often favourite to get promoted as far as the betting odds is concerned, it often depends on each club’s form coming into the play-offs. The third-placed club might have enjoyed a much bigger points haul than their opponents who wound up in sixth, although the latter might have enjoyed the better form coming towards the end of the regular season.

                Championship Football Podium

                The Best Accumulator Markets For Championship Games

                When it comes to placing a Championship football acca, you can choose from markets such as Both Teams to Score and Over/Under Goals. The Both Teams to Score market is also known as BTTS where you simply choose whether both teams will find the net at least once during the encounter or whether at least one team will fail to score during the ninety minutes.

                The Over / Under 2.5 Goals strategy  is a similar betting market and this is great if you can look at the Championship stats and identify teams who are either scoring a large or a small number of goals, while the same applies when it comes to the clubs who are running a tight defensive ship along with the clubs who have had the most porous defences.

                There is no limit when it comes to the number of Championship betting selections you can include in your accumulator and it’s possible to combine selections from this English Football League with picks from other divisions in England and further afield. Many punters like to place daily accas where you can pick out the games that are all taking place on the same day.

                Placing a Championship Bet Builder With the Bookies

                Some bookies will allow you to add up to twelve different selections when it comes to placing a Championship Bet Builder. A Bet Builder is similar to an accumulator bet although you are effectively making selections for the same match rather than combining selections from different matches, with customers able to choose selections from a wide variety of markets.

                For example, a bookmaker such as bet365 will allow you to choose from Player to Score, Result, Double Chance, Total Goals, Corners, Both Teams to Score, Half Time/Full Time, Score, Half With Most Goals, Team Specials, Team Goalscorer, Winning Margin and Goals – Odd/Even.

                This can be a great Championship football bet to place if you want to focus on a particular match where you can combine different outcomes and the advantage is that you have a tailored bet when you can cheer on a variety of things to happen, such as a certain number of corners, a certain player to be booked and whether both teams will find the net.

                How to Bet In-Play on a Championship Football Match

                Many of the leading bookmakers treat the English Championship seriously and will provide over 100 pre-match betting markets, while you can also enjoy a large number of In-Play betting markets when the match kicks off. It’s great for punters to assess what is happening in the game that they’re following or watching before deciding which way to bet on a particular encounter.

                The live betting markets remain open until close to the final whistle and there is always a betting angle to take when the game is taking place. You can bet on the winner of the match as it goes along, with the odds changing according to the scoreline, the team who is dominating and the overall balance of play.

                It’s often the case that a bookie will also provide Championship stats while a game is being covered In-Play so you can establish which side have had the most shots on target, corners and bookings, all of which help to provide the most rounded picture of the game that is taking place.

                In addition to betting In-Play, there is also the chance to Cash Out when it comes to your live football bets. So you might bet on a team to win and find that they are in the lead, which would mean that you could potentially Cash Out for a profit without having to wait for the final whistle, with this amount going up or down in real time.

                In-Play betting on Championship football matches can be exciting and it’s always worth looking at the latest footy stats before deciding where to place your bets. There is also the chance to sometimes get Partial Cash Out which means staying in your particular bet but also taking some cash out of a wager.

                The Best Bookies for Championship Football Betting

                There are lots of bookmakers out there to choose from, although some provide more of a wide range of Championship match betting markets than others. Ideally you want to find a bookie who not only offers plenty of betting options for each game but also the chance to get competitive odds and it often pays to compare the prices available to ensure that you’re getting the best value.

                When you sign up with a bookie before placing a bet on a Championship game, there is often the chance to claim a welcome bonus and that is often in the form of an extra free bet when you make a first deposit and then place your qualifying bet. It might be the case that you will need to place your bet at certain odds in order to land the bonus.

                You should choose a bookie who offer a quality In-Play betting facility when it comes to every Championship game and not just the televised encounters taking place. It should also be the case that you can enjoy a wide variety of betting markets such as Asian Handicaps which give punters the chance to choose a winning margin and split stakes options should they choose to do so.

                Some bookmakers will have accumulator odds promotions available and include the English Championship football matches as part of this special offer. A bookie might typically offer customers the chance to enjoy an accumulator bonus and you will certainly get a big payout should you predict the outcome of all twelve matches on the latest English Second Division coupon.

                There might alternatively be the opportunity to score Acca Insurance and that means you can get your money back as a free bet or cash if one leg of your Championship football multiple bet lets you down. This happens fairly regularly, especially as the matches are so competitive.

                Should I Bet on the Favourites in the Championship?

                The English Championship is certainly a division where you should expect the unexpected, so it’s not always the best strategy to back the teams who are trading as favourites to win their respective games. It’s often worth looking at the full-time result betting market and considering whether the stats indicate whether an even money chance has a bigger than 50% chance of happening.

                Sometimes, it’s worth comparing the home and away form of each team in the Championship, with certain teams making their own stadium something of a fortress, while other sides seem more comfortable when they take to the road. Any trends or stats that you can identify can often come in handy if you can match it up to the betting market in question.

                However, when it comes to betting antepost on markets such as Championship Winner, Championship Promotion, Championship Top Goalscorer and Championship Relegation, you will often find the teams or players heading the market being the ones that eventually come in and it’s therefore worth looking at historical data.

                As mentioned, the teams who are often favourites to enjoy promotion from the Championship are the sides who have recently come down from the Premier League or alternatively have been the subject of a takeover which recently happened to Wolverhampton Wanderers before Nuno Espirito Santo steered them to promotion.

                Jon

                Betting Expert
                I've made What Acca to try and help people starting out with accumulator betting. The possibilities of these types of bets are pretty much endless, with the major attraction coming from the fact that a lot of money can be won for very little outlay. What Acca will hopefully teach you how to make more profitable accumulator bets whilst also eradicating some of the mistakes that I have made over the years.

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