The 2025/26 football season is now in the record books, and after the 2026 World Cup in North America, thoughts will quickly turn to who is signing for which sides and when the key fixtures of the campaign will be played. Our focus in this article is simple, though: who went up and down in the major leagues. We will focus on England, but will also cover the promotions and relegations in Scotland and the other big European football leagues.
| League | Champions | Automatic Promotion | Promotion via Play-Offs | Relegated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | Arsenal | n/a | n/a | Wolves, Burnley, West Ham |
| Championship | Coventry | Ipswich | Hull | Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City, Oxford United |
| League One | Lincoln City | Cardiff City | Bolton Wanderers | Northampton Town, Rotherham United, Port Vale, Exeter City |
| League 2 | Bromley | Milton Keynes Dons, Cambridge United | Notts County | Barrow, Harrogate Town |
| Scottish Premiership | Celtic | n/a | n/a | Livingston |
| La Liga | Barcelona | n/a | n/a | Real Oviedo, Girona, Mallorca |
| Bundesliga | Bayern Munich | n/a | n/a | St. Pauli, Heidenheim, Wolfsburg |
| Serie A | Inter Milan | n/a | n/a | Pisa, Hellas Verona, Cremonese |
| Ligue 1 | PSG | n/a | n/a | Metz, Nantes |
Premier League
There is no promotion from the top tier of English football, of course, but Arsenal finally landed the title having finished third three seasons in a row. City were second, with Man United, Villa and Liverpool also qualifying for the Champions League. Wolves finished bottom of the pile, while Burnley came next and West Ham went down on the final day, much to the disappointment of most neutrals who were hoping for Spurs to suffer demotion.
Championship
Frank Lampard did much to restore his managerial reputation, guiding Coventry back to the top flight after a quarter of a century. Ipswich bounced straight back after demotion in 2024/25 but there was huge controversy in the play-offs.
Southampton eliminated Middlesbrough but after being charged with “spying”, the Saints were kicked out, and Boro reinstated. Hull, who many had tipped for relegation, snuck into the play-offs on the final day of the campaign. They were sixth in the end, seven points behind Boro, but made it count at Wembley, scoring a late winner to earn a return to the Premier League.
One side that won’t be in the top flight any time soon is Sheffield Wednesday. A dismal campaign saw them end with zero points, an 18-point penalty cancelled out by two wins and 12 draws. Leicester finished 46 points better off but still went down, with Oxford joining them in the third tier in 2026/27.
League One
Lincoln romped to the title with 103 points, well clear of Cardiff, who earned 91. Many hoped to see Spurs play the Imps in the Championship next term, but it wasn’t to be. Bolton joined the automatically promoted duo, having beaten Bradford and Stockport (both of whom finished above them) in the play-offs.
League Two
Bromley pipped MK Dons by a point, but they both went straight up, along with Cambridge, who were five points behind Bromley. Notts County edged past Chesterfield in the play-off semis before thrashing Salford 3-0 at Wembley. Harrogate and Barrow couldn’t survive on the last day in a thrilling relegation battle. They will be replaced by York City and Rochdale, the former pipping the latter to the automatic spot in one of the craziest ends to a season ever.
Scottish Premiership
Celtic won the title on the final day of the season, beating Hearts with a late goal. That does not come close to telling the story of the title race, though, one Hearts led for almost all the season. Two shocking refereeing decisions in the closing weeks of the campaign gave Celtic a chance on the last day, and they just about did enough to take it. In the end, they won by two points from Hearts, with Rangers third.
At the bottom, Livingston went straight down but St Mirren survived the play-offs to maintain their spot in the top tier of Scottish football. St Johnstone replace Livingston in the top flight.
La Liga
Real Madrid threatened to challenge Barca for much of the campaign but in the end the Catalans sealed La Liga by eight points. Villarreal were third, with Atletico Madrid and Real Betis also securing Champions League places.
The relegation battle was arguably more exciting than the title race that didn’t quite get going. The three teams above went down, but just five points separated Girona in 19th and Real Sociedad in 10th.
Bundesliga
Bayern romped to the title by 16 points, losing just once with Harry Kane superb. Borussia Dortmund were second, ahead of Leipzig and Stuttgart, those teams competing for the CL places. A tense relegation battle went to the final day of the campaign with three sides level on points and two of those facing each other!
Wolfsburg won at St Pauli, but ultimately it counted for nothing as they still went down through the relegation play-offs, losing to Paderborn in extra time of the second leg. Schalke and Elversberg were the two teams that automatically earned promotion from Bundesliga 2.
Serie A
Inter dominated Serie A and beat Napoli to the title by 11 points. Roma and Como, the latter managed by the highly regarded Cesc Fabregas, booked their spots in the Champions League. It was a stunning achievement for the minnows, and Fabregas could well be a future manager of Arsenal, Chelsea or another Premier League side. Pisa, Verona and Cremonese will be replaced by automatically promoted Venezia and Frosinone, and Monza, who earned promotion for 2026/27 through the play-offs.
Ligue 1
It looked for some time like we might see a major upset in France, with Lens, who ultimately finished second, six points behind perennial champions PSG, performing brilliantly. They led for six matchweeks during the middle part of the season, but ultimately, as in the UCL, PSG came good when it mattered most. Lens will compete in the UCL next season, though, along with Lille and Lyon.
In contrast, Metz and Nantes will compete in Ligue 2, replaced by champions Troyes and Le Mans. Nice just avoided demotion, competing in the relegation play-offs against Saint-Etienne, who had finished third in Ligue 2 and then seen off promotion rivals Rodez for the right to face Nice.