The EFL Championship, known as the Sky Bet Championship, is the second tier of English football. It’s widely celebrated for its volatility, high stakes, and sheer intensity. The 2025–26 season kicks off on Friday, 8 August 2025, and runs through Saturday, 2 May 2026, followed by the dramatic play-offs ending with the Wembley final on 23 May 2026.
The top two sides earn automatic promotion to the Premier League. Clubs finishing 3rd to 6th fight it out in the play-offs, with the ultimate winner gaining the “richest game in football” promotion. Meanwhile, the bottom three teams are relegated to League One.
Fortunately, you won’t miss the biggest matches this season. In Australia, every Championship fixture—around 155 games—is shown live via beIN Sports (CONNECT, Fetch TV, Amazon Prime Video), alongside full replays and highlight packages. Whether streaming or watching on TV, this EFL Championship TV guide ensures you’re covered.
How to watch the EFL Championship live in Australia
The EFL Championship season kicks off on 8 August 2025 and will conclude on 2 May 2026, with the play-off final scheduled for 23 May 2026 at Wembley Stadium. In between, twenty-four teams will compete in 46 demanding matches, with three teams earning promotion to the Premier League.
Of special interest are the three clubs relegated from the Premier League who will be joining the 2025–26 EFL Championship: Luton Town, Burnley, and Sheffield United. They will be joined by three promoted sides from League One: Portsmouth, Derby County, and Oxford United.
For viewers in Australia, the TV and streaming rights to the EFL Championship are held exclusively by beIN Sports. beIN Sports will broadcast up to 5 live matches per round, including every game of the play-offs. Highlights of all 552 matches throughout the season will also be available.
| Provider | EFL Championship | Streaming |
|---|---|---|
| beIN Sports | Up to 5 matches LIVE per round, with every playoff game LIVE, and highlights of every match on-demand. | Yes – 7 day Free trial |
| Foxtel/Kayo | Discontinued | N/A |
| Optus Sports | None | N/A |
In addition to the EFL Championship, beIN Sports are the exclusive Australian providers of live Serie A, Bundesliga, the CONMEBOL Libertadores, Ligue 1, and EFL Cup matches.
In Australia, EFL Championship fans can watch beIN Sports and their programming by signing onto the beIN SPORTS Connect website directly and paying a relatively small monthly fee, or via their current 7-day free trial offering for new customers.
Stream the EFL Championship live and free with beIN Sports
beIN SPORTS Connect is the online streaming service for the beIN Sports channels in Australia, and is the exclusive destination for watching the EFL Championship live. Additionally, every live match on beIN will also be available to watch later on-demand, which is handy for those late night contests.
The beIN Sports platform is easy to access, all you need is an internet connection, and their live content is available to stream with a variety of popular devices. Compatible devices include laptops, desktops, tablets and Smart TV’s, as well as Android, Apple and IOS mobile devices.
Best of all, if you’re a brand new customer to beIN Sports, you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial period. This should be time enough to allow you to watch the next available round of EFL Championship matches, as well as other live sport that’s available on the service.
In total, beIN Sports is home to over 2,500 live events each year, including a big selection of European Rugby and Football leagues and competitions.
beIN Sports also doesn’t have a lock-in contract or equipment fees, which means you can cancel anytime if you’re no longer using it. If you want to continue watching after your trial is over, simply choose between the Connect Monthly or Connect Annual plans.
Watch EFL Championship match replays as scheduled or on-demand
In addition to up to 5 LIVE matches per round, beIN Sports will show nearly every EFL Championship game as either a full match replay or an EFL Championship “mini”. Minis are 30 minute match highlights jam-packed with the game’s best moments.
After the match replays have been moved off beIN Sports’ regularly scheduled programing, they will be made available to watch on-demand at your convenience.
EFL Championship live streaming features on beIN Sports
beIN Sports takes the EFL Championship live viewing experience to a new level with enhanced features, including Multi-view, full HD viewing, Language Options, a Catch-UP replay option, and beIN XTRA LIVE. Check out the details below.
| Multi-view | Multi-view allows you to gain more control over your EFL Championship streaming experience. You can watch multiple games simultaneously without flicking between channels and eliminate the risk of missing key moments. As beIN Sports broadcasts games in high definition, you can stream every sport in their lineup in full HD. |
| Language Options | This feature enables access to alternative language commentary for specified leagues that air on channels 1, 2, and 3, such as Serie A, Ligue 1 or available CONMEBOL competitions. |
| beIN XTRA LIVE | beIN XTRA LIVE allows you to access and watch exclusive games via beIN Sports that are unavailable to view on their regular broadcast channels. |
| Catch-Up | beIN Sports provides a catch-up service for all of its subscribers so they can watch on-demand EFL Championship replays of a live event they’ve missed. |
Other football to watch after EFL Championship
Looking for more live football to watch? Here are a few other leagues that may perk up your interest until the next EFL Championship round comes along.
