Premier League: Promoted Clubs Deep Dive

Ahead of the 2025/26 Premier League season, here we take a deeper look at all of the three clubs that have got promoted to the English top flight following promotion from the second tier last season.

Anticipation is growing ahead of the start of the 2025/26 Premier League season, with all clubs looking to fulfil their respective ambitions for the latest top flight campaign.

As ever, three newly promoted clubs have found themselves at the top level of English Football after sealing promotion from the EFL Championship last season. The following clubs are returning to the Premier League: Leeds United, Burnley, and Sunderland.

Two of them did so automatically, whilst the other did so after winning the 2025 EFL Championship Play-Off Final at the iconic Wembley Stadium back in May 2025. These sides will, of course, do their best to retain their place in the top tier this term, but going by history, the odds are not necessarily in their favour.

The last time that all of the promoted clubs avoided the disaster of relegation was back in the 2022/23 season when Bournemouth, Fulham, and Nottingham Forest. They ended up finishing in 15th, 10th, and 16th place, respectively.

However, this was only the fourth time that this happened. The only other seasons where all of the newly promoted sides kept their place at the top level of the English Football Pyramid were in the 2001/02, 2011/12, and 2017/18 seasons.

In the 2001/02 campaign, Fulham, Blackburn Rovers, and Bolton Wanderers were the sides that were able to survive in 13th, 10th, and 16th place respectively, whilst in the 2011/12 campaign it was Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City, and Swansea City who all managed to avoid the drop after promotion the season before, finishing in 17th, 12th, and 11th place in the end.

Then, in the 2017/18 campaign, Newcastle United, Brighton, and Huddersfield Town were all able to hold on to their respective places in the English Top Flight following promotion.

Newcastle ended up with what was a 10th place finish, whilst Brighton and Huddersfield ended up with 15th and 16th place finishes after having played all 38 games.

Now, we are going to be taking a more in depth look at all three newly promoted clubs ahead of the start of the 2025/26 Premier League season.

Leeds United

The first newly promoted side that we are going to take a look at is Daniel Farke’s Leeds United, who are returning to the Premier League after two seasons in the second tier, having been relegated back in the 2022/23 campaign before finally sealing their return last term.

In the 2024/25 EFL Championship campaign, they were able to win the title after they had managed to earn what was a total of no less than 100 points from their 46 matches, though they only ended up finishing top of the tree on goal difference in the end.

Their leading goal scorer last term was their Dutch striker Joel Piroe, who managed to score a total of 19 goals in the second tier, and with this total, he was also their leading player when it came to goals in all competitions as well.

In terms of signings ahead of the new 2025/26 Premier League season, they have, as of the time of writing, sealed deals for the likes of Anton Stach (Midfielder, Hoffenheim), Jaka Bijol (Central Defender, Udinese), Lucas Perri (Goalkeeper, Lyon), Sean Longstaff (Central Midfielder, Newcastle United), Gabriel Gudmundsson (Left Back, Lille), Sebastiaan Bornauw (Central Defender, VFL Wolfsburg), and finally Lukas Nmecha (Forward, VFL Wolfsburg).

Burnley

Next up is Burnley, who are currently led by their English Head Coach Scott Parker, and sealed an immediate return to the top flight following automatic promotion from the EFL Championship following the conclusion of their 2024/25 league campaign.

The Clarets were able to finish in second place in the Championship last term with an incredible 100 points, losing out on the title to the aforementioned Leeds United in the end.

They did, though, finish as many as 10 points clear of third place, which was occupied by their fellow promotion contender Sheffield United, who went on to fail in their bid for a return to the top flight.

The player who was the leading goal scorer last term for the Lancashire Club was their midfielder, Josh Brownhill, who was able to find the back of the net 18 times in the league as well as in all competitions.

So far, the Clarets have confirmed the signing of a number of players ahead of their anticipated return to the top level of football in England, and they are Loum Tchaouna (Forward, Lazio), Bashir Humphreys (Left Back, Chelsea), Marcus Edwards (Forward, Sporting CP), Jaidon Anthony (Forward, AFC Bournemouth), Quilindschy Hartman (Left Back, Feyenoord), Zian Flemming (Forward, Millwall), Jacob Brunn Larsen (Forward, VFB Stuttgart), Max Weiss (Goalkeeper, Karlsruher), Axel Tuanzebe (Central Defender, Ipswich Town), and finally Kyle Walker (Right Back, Manchester City).

Sunderland

Finally, we are now moving onto the 2025 Play-Off Winners, Sunderland, managed by their French Head Coach, Regis Le Bris. They are returning to the Premier League after almost a decade away, having been relegated to the Championship back in the 2016/17 season.

The Black Cats ended up in the play-offs in the English Second Tier, finishing in 4th place after they were able to accumulate a total of 76 points from their 46 matches in the end.

Then, after beating Coventry City 3 – 2 on aggregate over two legs, they were able to set up a game against their fellow Premier League promotion candidates, Sheffield United, at the iconic and historic Wembley Stadium. Sunderland were able to seal their promotion thanks to a 2 – 1 victory against the Blades thanks to the goals from the likes of Eliezer Mayenda (76’) and Tom Watson (90+5’) in dramatic fashion, whilst the only goal scorers for Sheffield United was Tyrese Campbell, who initially gave them the lead early on in the first half (25’).

The leading goal scorer in the EFL Championship for the 2024/25 campaign for Sunderland was indeed their forward Wilson Isidor, with as many as 13 goals – he was also their top scorer in all competitions with this number of goals.

So far, the North East Club have been very active in the 2025 Summer Transfer Window, and they have so far completed deals for the likes of Habib Diarra (Central Midfielder, Strasbourg), Simon Adingra (Forward, Brighton), Enzo Le Fee (Central Midfielder, AS Roma), Chemsdine Talbi (Forward, Club Brugge), Noah Sadiki (Central Midfielder, Union Saint-Gilloise), Granit Xhaka (Defensive Midfielder, Bayer Leverkusen), Reinildo (Left Back, Atletico Madrid).

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly ahead of the 2025/26 Premier League season getting underway, and all eyes will be on the action to come with teams battling for the title, for European Football, and to avoid the disaster that is relegation to the EFL Championship.

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