The 2016–17 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the first season of the EFL Championship under its current name, and the twenty-fifth season under its current league structure. Newcastle United were crowned the champions and were promoted to Premier League after just one season in the Championship. Brighton & Hove Albion, alongside Huddersfield Town, both achieved Premier League promotions, via the second automatic promotion place and play-off route respectively, Brighton and Huddersfield Town's first ever since the Premier League formed in 1992.
The season started on 5 August 2016 with the final round of regular league fixtures played on 7 May 2017.[5] The fixtures were announced on 22 June 2016.
The four teams that finished from third to sixth played off, with the winning team, Huddersfield Town, gaining the final promotion spot to the Premier League.
In the play-off semi-finals the third-placed team played the sixth-placed team and the fourth-placed team played the fifth-placed team. The team that finished in the higher league position played away in the first leg and played at home in the second leg. If the aggregate score was level after both legs, then extra time was played. If the scores were still level, a penalty shoot-out decided the winner. The away goals rule does not apply in the playoffs.
The winners from the two semi-finals played at Wembley Stadium in the play-off final. The game is known as the richest game in football as the winning club is guaranteed significantly increased television rights payments estimated to be in the order of £170M.[81][82]
^Marc Roberts named as Barnsley first team Captain during a match on Barnsley F.C, official and verified Twitter account on 28 January 2017. Conor Hourihane was Barnsley first team Captain from July 2016 to 26 January 2017, before Hourihane signed for Aston Villa, during the 2016–2017 EFL Championship season.