English football is built on promotion and relegation, which means every league season has stakes at both ends of the table.
Going down
The Premier League has 20 clubs, and the bottom three at the end of the season are relegated to the Championship.
Coming up
The top two in the Championship are promoted automatically. The clubs finishing third to sixth go into the play-offs: two-legged semi-finals followed by a final at Wembley, with the winner taking the third promotion place.
The play-off final is often called the richest game in football, because of the huge broadcast revenue that comes with a place in the Premier League.
