Some Key Aspects To Consider For Betting on the English Championship

The Championship is regarded as being one of the most competitive leagues in Europe. While the pinnacle of the English tiers is the Premier League, the division often unfolds season by season into a one or a two-horse race for the title.

The Championship though offers a wider range of potential title winners and promotion hopefuls, arguably making it more exciting. That hyper-competitive nature of the second tier is reflected in the English Championship betting odds.

But why is the Championship such an engaging league and how does that in turn, translate into some fascinating football betting for punters? Here we look at the main aspects of betting on the English Championship compared to its more illustrious counterpart, the Premier League.

The Blend of Teams

The blend of quality that you get in the Championship is the backbone of the thrills and spills that unfold across a season. Three of the teams have just dropped from the top flight, and three have come up from League One.

So that’s a big shake-up, as a quarter of the teams are new to the league at the start of a Championship campaign. That’s double the new variables that the Premier League gets every season.

Those teams that drop to the Championship from the top flight are generally among the favourites in the following season’s promotion chase in the second tier because of having better finances and stronger squads.

There is no bigger promotion in a club to be earned than from the Championship up to the rich lands of the Premier League. Only two automatic promotion places exist and from 24 teams, that’s a tough pre-season prediction to make.

Where Are the Home Wins?

In the 2022/23 season, 41% of matches in the Championship ended in a home win. That is way below the line of the 48% home win percentage that was recorded in the Premier League the same season. 

This ties back into the competitive nature of the league. Winning at home doesn't seem as easy to pull off in the Championship. As far as Championship betting odds go, that then naturally sends value towards the draw and away win options.

It’s a variable to consider when having a look at Championship betting for sure. It’s a trend that can easily be tracked as the current season unfolds.

To Score, or Not to Score?

Dip into Championship highlights from the weekend and you will naturally see the best goals of the day. Based on the clips, it looks like a dynamic, thrilling league in which goals are regularly flying into the back of the net due to relatively weak defences compared to the top flight.

But that’s not the case according to the stats. Only 44% of fixtures in the 2022/23 season went over 2.5 goals in the Championship, which produced an average of 2.4 goals per game.

In the Premier League, the rate of games ending over 2.5 goals was at 53% and there was an average of 2.85 goals per game too. Lower goal lines on the Over/Under therefore, come into the picture for Championship football betting.

Championship Fixture Scheduling Is Much Better

A frustrating thing about the Premier League schedule is that it’s tricky to keep track of games. Long gone are the days of waiting for Saturday's 3.00 pm kick-off to come around to enjoy a full coupon of top-flight matches. 

Things are far more cut and dry for scheduling in the Championship. The bulk of the matches are played on a Saturday afternoon. When midweek matches happen, it’s not just the odd game here and there, again it's usually a clutch of fixtures all played at once.

That makes things far more interesting when trying to pull multi-bets together like Championship football betting accumulators or getting prepared for in-play betting.

Not the Same Coverage as the EPL

You can look for pros and cons for any league or competition that you are betting on. One of the trickier things in terms of betting on the Championship is that it just doesn't get the same kind of media coverage that the likes of the Premier League or UEFA Champions League do.

That can make it harder for punters to find quick team news reports, in-depth post-match reports and the general relaying of statistics. Even down to betting tips, you will commonly find far more on the Premier League than the Championship.

It’s understandable. The EPL is the most high-profile domestic league in the world and that’s a lot for the Championship to compete with. The lack of easily-accessible insights makes Championship betting a little trickier.

Therefore, for punters wanting to have a look at betting on the competitive action in the second tier, it may require a little more groundwork in finding stats and information sources.