How will the three promoted teams fare in the Championship 26/27?
Lincoln City, Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers all secured their place in this season’s Championship after contrasting routes out of League One, and each arrives with a very different story behind their promotion.
Between a record-breaking title win, an immediate bounce back and a dramatic play-off run, the three clubs represent almost every way a season in League One can end in success. Anyone checking the Championship odds for relegation this season will likely find all three among the shorter prices, a familiar position for newly promoted sides heading into the second tier.
Getting out of League One is one challenge, staying in the Championship is an entirely different one. Here’s a look at how each club got promoted, who they’ll be relying on, and how they fared the last time they played at this level.
Lincoln City
Lincoln won the League One title with a club record 103 points, losing just five matches all season under Michael Skubala, and secured a return to the second tier for the first time in 65 years. Skubala left after guiding the club up, with joint head coaches Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw promoted from within the backroom staff to carry on the momentum.
Jack Moylan and Reeco Hackett, both on 11 league goals last season, will be key to any hopes of adding to their tally against stronger opposition. Lincoln’s last spell at this level ended in 1961, giving them by far the longest wait of the three clubs.
Cardiff City
Cardiff’s promotion came at the first attempt after their relegation from the Championship in 2024-25, finishing second in League One on 91 points. Brian Barry-Murphy has taken charge for the new campaign, with Dylan Lawlor, Rubin Colwill and Yousef Salech among the players expected to carry their form up a level.
For those looking at free bets to back one of the promoted sides for an immediate return to League One, Cardiff’s recent history of yo-yoing between divisions makes them a genuinely unpredictable case either way.
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton took the longer route, finishing outside the automatic places before beating Bradford City in the play-off semi-final and Stockport County 4-1 in the final at Wembley.
Steven Schumacher, appointed mid-season after arriving from Plymouth Argyle, oversaw a significant summer overhaul of the squad he inherited from Ian Evatt, bringing in striker Sam Dalby from Wrexham along with Luca Stephenson and Ben Davies, while loanee Amario Cozier-Duberry has departed.
It is Bolton’s first season back in the Championship in seven years, following a well-documented period of financial trouble that saw them drop as low as League Two earlier in the last decade.
What comes next
All three clubs will be aiming to avoid an immediate return to League One, a fate that has befallen plenty of promoted sides before them. Cardiff’s Championship pedigree and Bolton’s overhauled squad give both a reasonable platform, while Lincoln’s long absence from this level makes their own task the hardest to predict.
How each manager settles into second-tier football over the opening months is likely to decide which of the three has the strongest chance of survival come May, with fixture congestion and squad depth often proving just as important as ability on paper.