A Preview of the New English Championship Season

All is set for what is going to be a blockbuster start to the month of football.

This opening weekend of the month will see action take place in over 20 football leagues across various continents. While the season continues for some, other leagues will be starting out afresh, like the English Championship.

As usual, the league is starting a week ahead of England’s Premier League. Fighting for survival, staying afloat, winning the league, gaining promotion to the top-flight or at least making it into the play-offs will be the order of the day for the 24 teams starting this weekend.

As the league starts off, here are some of the things you can look forward to:

1. New managers

The long season starts off with some familiar names… and some not-too-familiar names.

For some of these unfamiliar names, they’re just starting out their managerial career. For names like Frank Lampard who is the new Derby County boss, it’s an entirely new experience, one that could go either ways for the former Chelsea player.

The same cannot be said for a name like Marcelo “El Loco” Bielsa. The way-travelled manager who is now the manager of Leeds United, has the kind of experience that can take Leeds all the way.

2. New teams

While some teams gained promotion to the Premier League from the Championship, some other clubs got relegated from the Premier League to the Championship. The same can be said about League 1.

While names like Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and co will be starting off on familiar grounds, names like Stoke City, West Brom and Swansea will start their campaign in a territory unlike the one they played in last season.

Wigan Athletic and Blackburn Rovers both gain qualification back to the Championship. The aim of course will be to stay alive, or even go as far as winning the title.

3. The ones that almost qualified

At the tail-end of last season, the teams that finished in third, fourth, fifth and sixth place on the log entered a play-off for a chance to gain promotion to the Premier League.

Fulham, Middlesbrough, Derby County and Aston Villa all fought hard but only Fulham made it through.

The remaining three teams who narrowly missed out on gaining promotion will also be in the spotlight this season. Can they make it as far this time around? Can they go all the way?

Because it’s a 24-team league, this weekend will witness 12 games – all of which are available on NairaBET for you to bet on. Will you be keeping an eye on this hectic league; a league which, in its own rights, is more hectic than the Premier League?

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