Who makes the Opta Analyst Championship Team of the Season for 2024-25? It’s time to find out…
With the 2024-25 Championship regular season over, we’ve analysed the performances of every player and picked out our team of the season. These 11 players have been selected after performing better than any other player in their respective position via the data, not opinion.
It’s been a season dominated by both Leeds United and Burnley, who both reached 100 points on the way to promotion back to the Premier League. Never had two teams previously collected as many as 100 points in the same league within a season, so the heavy inclusion from both clubs won’t come as much of a surprise to many.
GoalkeeperJames Trafford (Burnley)
It couldn’t be anyone else, could it? James Trafford enjoyed a record-breaking season as he helped Burnley bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, conceding only 16 goals across 45 Championship appearances.
He kept 29 clean sheets across those games, meaning he equalled an all-time English Football League record by a goalkeeper in a single season, level with Ray King for Port Vale in 1953-54 and Gillingham’s Jim Stannard in 1995-96.
Many of those clean sheets came due to his superb shot-stopping ability, with only Vikor Johansson (15.8) preventing more goals than Trafford (12.5) among Championship goalkeepers in 2024-25. A particular highlight was his performance at home to Sunderland in January, when he helped Burnley secure a 0-0 draw after two penalty saves from Wilson Isidor.
Right-BackConnor Roberts (Burnley)
After playing an integral part in Burnley’s promotion-winning campaign under Vincent Kompany in 2022-23, Connor Roberts enjoyed yet another season of success with the Lancashire club.
The Championship runners-up conceded just 14 goals in the 3,941 minutes (including added time) that Roberts was on the pitch this season, at an average of one every 282 minutes.
An exceptional defender in one-on-one situations, Roberts won 71.7% of his ground duels against opponents in the Championship this season. That was the best ratio across all 194 players to be involved in at least 150 ground duels in 2024-25.
Central DefenceMaxime Estève (Burnley)
If any player can stake a claim to being the most important in Burnley’s record-breaking defensive season, it’s Maxime Estève.
He was the only player to play all 46 games in their promotion-winning campaign, missing just 83 minutes overall. He started every one of the matches in which they kept a record-equalling 30 clean sheets.
Of the 62 defenders to be involved in at least 250 duels in the Championship this season, he ranked 18th for duel success (63.3%) and won more aerial duels than he lost (62.3%).
Central DefenceJoe Rodon (Leeds United)
Joe Rodon was the only player to start all 46 of Leeds United’s matches on the way to winning the Championship title, and was absent for just four minutes of their league season. In fact, Rodon became the third Leeds central defender to start every single league game in a title-winning season, along with Norman Hunter (1963-64, 1968-69, 1973-74) and Ben White (2019-20).
Rodon completed 3,454 passes in the Championship this season, the most of any player across the entire EFL and the most by a Leeds player in a league season on record.
Another of Rodon’s strengths was his ability to carry the ball out from defence to progress Daniel Farke’s side up the pitch. No defender averaged more progressive carries per 90 minutes than he did in the Championship this season (11.1), while his per-90 progressive carry distance was also a league-high among central defenders to play at least 1,000 minutes (127.2m).
Left-BackJunior Firpo (Leeds United)
Junior Firpo led the Championship rankings for most assists (10) and non-penalty goal involvements (14) across all defenders in 2024-25. In fact, Firpo became the first Leeds United defender to assist 10 goals in a season since Ian Harte (12) in the 2000-01 campaign.
Three of those assists came in one match against Cardiff City on 1 February, when he became the first Leeds player to assist three goals in a single match since Jermaine Pennant in August 2003.
Only three defenders created more open-play chances than Firpo this season (44), while across defenders to play at least 2,000 minutes of Championship action in 2024-25, the former Barcelona left-back averaged the highest open-play attacking sequence involvements per 90 (4.7).
Central MidfieldAo Tanaka (Leeds United)
Ao Tanaka enjoyed a successful first season in English football, quickly forging a reputation for being one of the best footballers in the country outside the top flight.
Across all midfielders to play at least 1,500 minutes in the competition this season, only Matt Grimes (73.8) averaged more completed passes per 90 than Tanaka (64.1), with the central midfielder key to Leeds’ build-up play.
While Tanaka’s attacking numbers were modest (5 goals, 2 assists), his role in the team as a ball winner didn’t go unnoticed. He led the Championship rankings for winning possession from opponents to start open-play sequences that led to a shot (18), with three of those ending in goals (another league-high).
The Japan international also averaged 4.0 tackles and interceptions per 90 in the league this season, the most by a Leeds midfielder in a Championship campaign since Kalvin Phillips in 2018-19.
Central MidfieldJosh Cullen (Burnley)
It might come as a surprise to some that Josh Cullen makes this team of the season ahead of his teammate Josh Brownhill, but Cullen was one of the hardest-working midfielders in the Championship across 2024-25.
With only Estève playing more league minutes for Burnley than Cullen (3,809) among outfielders, the 29-year-old quickly established himself as an integral part of Scott Parker’s plans.
Cullen’s passing qualities in midfield saw him complete 89.0% of his passes across the Championship season, making him one of only eight midfielders in the league to complete as high a proportion. Despite being deployed in a deep-lying midfield role, Cullen also ended the season as Burnley’s third-highest chance creator from open play (34).
Only Lucas Pires (116) made more tackles and interceptions in the Championship for Burnley this season than Cullen (99), while the Irishman regained possession from opponents 5.5 times per 90 on average – more than any other player in the Burnley squad.
Central MidfieldHayden Hackney (Middlesbrough)
Hayden Hackney is the only player in our 2024-25 Championship Team of the Season not to play for Burnley or Leeds.
Hackney was the conductor in the Middlesbrough midfield. No player in the Championship was involved in as many open-play attacking sequences that ended in a team shot (273), while he initiated 49 of those himself – only two off the league leader Jason Knight at Bristol City (51).
He may have only provided five goals and three assists, but as a deep-lying player, it was always unlikely that he’d be among the leaders for goal involvements from midfield. Hackney did lead the league rankings for secondary chances created – where a player made the pass to the player who created the chance – though (66), which underlined his importance to Middlesbrough’s shot creation.
An adept ball carrier, Hackney progressed the ball upfield more than any other central midfielder in the Championship this season (4,347m). This is one of many skills that will undoubtedly see the 22-year-old linked with a move to a top-flight club over the summer.
Right-WingDaniel James (Leeds United)
Displaying his importance to Leeds’ fantastic attacking output this season, Daniel James featured in the top 10 Championship players for non-penalty shot involvements both overall (143) and per 90 (4.9).
Along with Manor Solomon, James was a creative force for Leeds in their title-winning season. His open-play xG assisted total of 8.4 was surpassed by only Josh Murphy (9.8) and Solomon (10.3).
Overall, James was involved in 21 non-penalty goals (12 goals, 9 assists) across the Championship this season, with only four players involved in more, including teammates Solomon and Joël Piroe.
James is now the first Leeds United player to be involved in 20+ league goals in consecutive seasons (13 goals & 7 assists in 2023-24 and 12 goals & 9 assists in 2024-25) since Jermaine Beckford between 2007-08 and 2009-10.
Left-WingManor Solomon (Leeds United)
Manor Solomon became the first Leeds United player with both 10+ goals and 10+ assists (10 goals, 12 assists) in a league season since Pablo Hernández in 2018-19 (12 goals, 12 assists).
It was Solomon who arguably became Leeds’ most important player in the final stages of the season, with the Tottenham Hotspur loanee involved in eight goals across his last six appearances in 2024-25 (3 goals, 5 assists). In total, Leeds won all nine games in which Solomon scored in the Championship this season, including the added-time victory over Plymouth Argyle on the final day that sealed the title.
That goal was also one of eight goal involvements Solomon managed this season following a ball carry (2 goals, 6 assists), which ranked him fourth in the Championship for that metric. He also ranked fifth for total chances created following carries in the competition in 2024-25 (28), the most of any Leeds player.
Solomon’s dribbling ability is also highlighted by the fact that he was the only Championship player to tally at least 100 take-ons this season and be successful with more than half of them (51%).
StrikerJoël Piroe (Leeds United)
Having the Championship top goalscorer as our striker in the team of the season shouldn’t be a surprise to most, but Joël Piroe gave more to Leeds United than just his 19 league goals in 2024-25.
He also assisted seven goals, meaning he had more goal involvements than any other player in the league this season (26), despite playing under 75% of Leeds’ total minutes across the campaign (74.6%). His seven assists ranked him fourth in the Leeds squad, while his 37 open-play chances created was only bettered by five teammates.
His goal tally was undeniably made healthier by playing for the best attacking side in the league, with numerous chances provided to him by his teammates. As a result, no player to play over 1,000 Championship minutes this season had a higher non-penalty xG average (0.48) per 90.
A particular highlight in the campaign for Piroe came on 21 April, when he scored four goals in a 6-0 win over Stoke. The first three of those came inside 20 minutes, making it the earliest hat-trick scored in the EFL since James Beattie for Sheffield United vs Leicester in April 2008 (19 minutes).
One downside for Piroe would be that the Stoke game was the only league appearance that he scored in from March onwards (12 appearances), and his goal tally should really have been higher.
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