Championship playoffs expanding to include 6 teams next season

The English Championship play-offs will increase from four clubs to six from next season, officials announced Thursday.

The change was approved by a meeting of the English Football League (EFL), the governing body for the three divisions below the Premier League.

The top two teams at the end of the regular season will still be promoted automatically, with sides finishing third to eighth heading into the play-offs.

"Following several months of discussion with clubs and other stakeholders, we are confident this change will further strengthen the Championship as a competition and give more clubs and their supporters a genuine opportunity of achieving promotion," said EFL chief executive Trevor Birch.

The new system will see teams finishing from fifth to eighth involved in 'eliminator' ties.

The winners will then face the third and fourth-placed teams in two-legged semi-finals. The final format will be agreed later this year.

The current format -- a single-leg final at Wembley preceded by two-legged semi-finals -- has been in place since the 1989/90 campaign.

The Championship play-off final is regarded as the most lucrative single game in football.

Sunderland's win over Sheffield United in last season's edition was worth an estimated minimum of £200 million ($267 million) in additional income to the Black Cats.