English Football Promotions and Relegations, 2024-25 Season

Which English soccer teams have been promoted and relegated after the 2024-25 season? Who’s in the Football League playoffs? Which Premier League teams will make it into Europe?

We’re going to track everything here until it’s all said and done. But first, some quick background.

Updated April 21, 2025.

Click here to skip the review and see the season’s results.

Quick Review: How Does Promotion and Relegation Work in English Soccer?

At the end of each season, the top three teams in each league go up a league for the next season, and the bottom three drop down a league. And there are a lot of leagues up and down the so-called pyramid of English football. There are some variables on this, like playoffs being involved to settle some promotions, plus the question of where the top teams in the top league get “promoted to.”

We’ll get to those, but here’s a complete explanation of how promotion and relegation work in England:

English Football League Playoffs

Yes, English soccer has playoffs — not to determine champions, but to determine some promotion spots. For example, in the Championship, the second-tier league just below the Premier League, the top two finishers automatically go up, then numbers 3 through 6 battle it out for the third spot. The final of that mini tournament, played at Wembley Stadium, is often called the “richest game in world football,” as the winner gets a share of the Premier League TV money.

Here’s more about the English football playoffs.

Premier League Teams “Getting into Europe”?

Since the Premier League is the top league in England, where do its top teams go “up” to? The answer is European competitions — and the same is true for leagues all over the continent, like Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A.

This is what is meant by the phrase “getting into Europe,” or getting into “the European places” at the top of the Premier League. In England, it basically breaks down like this:

• Spots 1-5: UEFA Champions League. If one of these teams also wins either this season’s Champions League or Europa League, they qualify that way, and the next-highest team in the Premier League gets in.
• Spot 6 + FA Cup winner: UEFA Europa League. If the FA Cup winner also finishes in the top six, this spot goes to whoever finishes 7th in the Premier League.
• League Cup Winner: UEFA Europa Conference League — unless that team also finishes in the European places, in which case #8 goes.

Here’s more about getting into Europe.

English Football Promotions and Relegations, 2024-25 Season

Note: This is all as of April 21, 2025. Anything that is 100% confirmed is marked as such.

Premier League: European Places

This is confusing changes daily and is an utterly epic contest at this point.

Champions League:

• Liverpool (confirmed)
• Arsenal
• Newcastle
• Manchester City
• Chelsea

Europa League:

• Nottingham Forest
• FA Cup winner: either Forest, Villa, Crystal Palace or Manchester City.

Europa Conference League:

• If Newcastle, who won the League Cup, make it to the Champions League, the current team to go is Aston Villa, who are seventh in the table. But depending on how things go in the FA Cup and elsewhere, this could even be the 8th- or 9th-place team, currently Bournemouth and Fulham.

Note: As of April 21, Aston Villa in 7th are on 57 points, while Newcastle in 3rd are on 59!

Here’s the current Premier League table from the BBC.

From the Premier League down to the Championship

• Southampton (confirmed)
• Leicester City (confirmed)
• Ipswich Town (virtually confirmed)

From the Championship up to the Premier League

Top two automatically, spots 3-6 in the playoffs for third spot.

• Leeds
• Burnley
• Playoffs: Sheffield United, Sunderland, Bristol City, Coventry City.

From the Championship down to League One

• Cardiff City
• Luton Town
• Plymouth Argyle

Here’s the Championship table from the BBC.

From League One up to the Championship:

Top two automatically, spots 3-6 in the playoffs for third spot.

• Birmingham City (confirmed as champions — that’s their stadium above)
• Wycombe Wanderers
• Playoffs: Wrexham, Stockport County, Charlton Athletic, Leyton Orient

From League One down to League Two:

• Bristol Rovers
• Crawley Town
• Cambridge United
• Shrewsbury Town (confirmed)

Here’s the League One table.

From League Two up to League One:

Top three automatically, spots 4-7 in the playoffs for third spot.

• Port Vale
• Doncaster Rovers
• Walsall
• Playoffs: Bradford City, Wimbledon, Notts County, Grimsby Town

From League Two down to the National League:

• Carlisle United
• Morecambe

Here is the League Two table.

From the National League up to the Football League Two

Champions automatically, spots 2-7 into the playoffs for spot 2

• Barnet
• Playoffs: York City, Forest Green Rovers, Oldham Athletic, Gateshead, Rochdale, Halifax Town.