To the neutral looking in, the Championship is always a fascinating league to take in, especially when it comes to the drama of the playoffs.
Southampton have been caught up in the magic of the playoffs various times over the years, with 2024 even seeing them clinch promotion up to the Premier League, at the expense of a heavily fancied Leeds United side, at Wembley.
Yet, extensive changes coming in could soon change the landscape of this beloved knockout format for good, as Tonda Eckert now weighs in with his thoughts.
The playoff changes that will happen
At the moment, the playoff structure is a cherished format across the EFL, with teams positioned from third to sixth in the Championship, League One and League Two all doing battle in a series of semi-final match-ups, with the ultimate prize being moving up to the division above in a fiercely contested final.
The changes that will soon come into play at the start of the 2026/27 season would mean teams in seventh and eighth positions would also enter into this high-stakes lottery, with EFL Ceo Trevor Birch recently highlighting that his revamp would "further strengthen the Championship as a competition".
The teams currently in 3rd-8th:
Team | Position | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ipswich Town | 3rd | 18 | 9 | 7 | 63 |
Millwall | 4th | 18 | 8 | 9 | 62 |
Hull City | 5th | 18 | 6 | 11 | 60 |
Wrexham | 6th | 15 | 12 | 8 | 57 |
Saints | 7th | 14 | 11 | 10 | 53 |
Derby County | 8th | 14 | 9 | 12 | 51 |
You might well think Eckert would be in favour of this shiny new makeover of the traditional playoff format, considering the Saints occupy seventh position in the highly competitive league right now, meaning the South Coast titans would be propelled into the playoff picture in this modernised look.
However, the German head coach has offered his own decisive thoughts on the updates, away from Southampton's current promotion aspirations.
What Eckert has said
Southampton have dramatically turned their fortunes around this season under their former U21s manager, with Will Still once plunging the ex-Premier League club into a very real second-tier relegation fight.
Now, the Saints harbour hopes of immediately returning to the top-flight, as they rest only four points outside the top six positions.
In an alternate reality, if the updates were already in play, Southampton would be firmly in the playoff mix. Yet, Eckert has come out with some blunt negatives, regardless.
He wisely, when speaking to the Southampton Echo, talked about the knock-on impact this could have on teams who finish in the third or fouth spots, as they could lose their rhythm waiting for the rest of the pack to catch up.
Eckert said: "We need to make sure that if you rank higher at the end of the season, you don't lose your rhythm and that becomes a disadvantage.
I think that's something that we need to watch out for because sometimes it just helps you after such a long season to stay in the rhythm.
"Once you lose that, it's sometimes not so easy to get back in."
He also spoke of the cynical commercial aspects possibly driving this drastic rebrand, by concluding:
"There are many decisions taken at the moment that are commercially driven, and I think that's just the way that sports go.
Not just football, but in general."
Before anyone gets too carried away by all the changes on the table, Southampton might not even be playing in the EFL next season, if a dream move straight back to the Premier League is pulled off.
With four wins collected from their last five league encounters, this dream is surely on, as the Saints go about feeling the magic of the playoffs once more, before these alterations take shape.