Championship play-off dates confirmed by EFL with season to finish on 4 August at Wembley

Eleven clubs still find themselves in the running for the Championship play-offs with the path to football’s most lucrative match laid out following the coronavirus crisis

The Championship campaign will end on 4 August after the English Football League confirmed the dates for the play-offs.

The regular season in the second tier is due to restart on Saturday, having been suspended since 13 March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The EFL announced on Friday that the semi-final first legs will be played on 26/27 July, with the return matches taking place on 20/30 July.

Wembley will then play host to the final, which is widely regarded as the most lucrative match in the world with the winner gaining promotion to the Premier League.

The value of the 2019 final was placed at a minimum of £170m to the victors, who on that occasion were Aston Villa.

Fulham will restart the season against Brentford on Saturday knowing they are six points off automatic promotion with nine games to play, though they hold a four-point buffer over this weekend’s opponents as well as fifth-placed Nottingham Forest.

The final place in the play-offs is currently filled by Preston North End, who find themselves a further four points adrift, but Bristol City, Millwall, Cardiff City, Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City all find themselves within three points of the top six, with Derby County and Queens Park Rangers not completely out of the frame either.

PA