SQUAD SELECTOR 24/25: Championship

Ali Maxwell drafts a 24-man squad, picking only one player per club. We start in the Championship for part one of three.

Three leagues, three squads, 24 players, one pick per club…

Them’s the rules of the Squad Selector. Simple enough. But picking a best XI is hard. Picking a full 24-man squad with just one player per club? Now we're into migraine territory.

Once again, I’m assembling a squad for Fictional Summer Tournament 2025, staying true to the England C philosophy: one player per club, three goalkeepers mandatory, and the rest is down to me. That means big decisions, painful omissions, and plenty of agonising over whether to take a talismanic striker or the league’s best left-back.

Some teams make this easy—one obvious standout. Others? Well, I’ll be tossing and turning over my choices. But that’s the beauty of this exercise: a chance to celebrate the best the EFL has to offer, while also attempting to build a squad that actually works on the pitch. We start with the Championship.

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SQUAD SELECTOR 24/25: Championship

As I run through the squad and pick a starting XI, I can welcome back the three returnees from last year’s squad: Viktor Johansson, Hayden Hackney and Josh Sargent.

GOALKEEPERS

Viktor Johansson (Stoke City), Jamie Cumming (Oxford United), Conor Hazard (Plymouth Argyle)

We’ve got a Viking in goal, Cumming as his deputy and Thanks For Coming goes to Conor Hazard. That’s not a knock on Hazard, specifically, it’s just that being 3rd choice keeper is clearly football’s greatest TFC scenario.

In tournament football, I’m even less fussed about a goalkeeper’s ability with their feet—all I care about is that they don’t undermine the team with shoddy handling. One way to measure shot-stopping performance is to subtract goals conceded from a goalkeeper’s ‘Post-shot xG faced’. Per this metric, we have three of the top four shot-stoppers in the league this season, and we’re more than happy with that.

CENTRE-BACKS

Zak Vyner (Bristol City), Ronnie Edwards (QPR), Japhet Tanganga (Millwall), Harry Darling (Swansea City)

None of my centre-backs play for Top 6 teams, which makes me a little nervous. But I’m less about individual skill, data or perceived ability when it comes to centre-backs, given how important the partnerships and defensive structure is. Obviously, we’ll be immaculately coached, so I’m excited about Japhet Tanganga and Ronnie Edwards as a duo. In games where teams sit off, having the passing range and on-ball confidence of Edwards and Harry Darling will be key. Tanganga will make sure there’s no softness defending our box, and Zak Vyner is our utility defender, able to play a ton of different roles while performing at a good level, allowing in-game tactical changes galore.

FULL-BACKS / WING-BACKS

Trai Hume (Sunderland), Kaine Kesler-Hayden (Preston North End), Alfie Doughty (Luton), Owen Beck (Blackburn Rovers)

Trai Hume is our right back. Mature, dependable, comfortable in different full-back roles and with few obvious weaknesses. In his fifth EFL loan, Kaine Kesler-Hayden has kicked on to another level, can play on both flanks and is good in the final third if we need freshness.

Left-back is, typically, not a position with abundant quality in the Championship. I think Alfie Doughty can play left-back in this team, offering speed, width and delivery. Any defensive struggles are, in my mind, somewhat mitigated by the presence of Ao Tanaka and Shea Charles in midfield. Both do more than their fair share of covering, for flying full-backs in the case of Tanaka and Barry Bannan in the case of Charles. If we need a more dogged 1v1 defender, Owen Beck will slot in.

CENTRAL MIDFIELDERS

Ao Tanaka (Leeds), Hayden Hackney (Middlesbrough), Shea Charles (Sheffield Wednesday), Ebou Adams (Derby), Gus Hamer (Sheffield United)

The idea of an Ao Tanaka/Shea Charles midfield pairing makes me a little hot under the collar. In simple terms, they both offer a hell of a lot with and without the ball. If we need some extra zip with our passing from deep, there’s Hayden Hackney. If we need energy and ball-winning, there’s Ebou Adams.

But I’d be selecting Gus Hamer to start in an 8/10 hybrid role. He’s box office, he can score or create from seemingly unthreatening situations and he relishes pressing and counterpressing.

ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS / WIDE FORWARDS

Georgi Chakvetadze (Watford), Haji Wright (Coventry), Josh Murphy (Portsmouth), Marcus Edwards (Burnley). Tom Fellows (West Brom), Joe Gelhardt (Hull)

In my head, Georgi Chakvetadze is going to be vying for those Gus Hamer minutes. Even though he can operate on the left of the attack, I would prefer to have another wide left attacker when Chak is on the pitch, as I believe that gets the best out of him.

Marcus Edwards will start on the right wing. He’s got unreasonable quality on the ball for a second-tier player, and I think Hume will be a perfect full-back foil with him having supported Amad Diallo and Patrick Roberts over the last few years. With Doughty providing the width and wing-play down the left, we can select Haji Wright in the ‘cheat’ LW position that he plays so well for Coventry. Josh Murphy and Tom Fellows are terrific options on either side, offering different skill sets to Wright and Edwards. And you know that Joe Gelhardt if he makes the pitch, he is going to do everything in his power to make an impact across any forward role.

STRIKERS

Josh Sargent (Norwich), Yousef Salech (Cardiff)

Haji Wright’s presence lessens the goalscoring load on Josh Sargent. It’s not that he can’t score well - it’s that he offers so much outside of scoring that his finishing occasionally seems to suffer. I still believe he’s the best all-round striker in the division, and he leads the line.

Who better to have as a Plan B (or Plan A against a side clearly lacking vulnerable crosses)? Cardiff’s Yousef Salech, whose height and presence inside the box has been Championship CB kryptonite since he arrived in January. He even scored against Burnley!

Starting XI

That’s the Championship wrapped. Here's Sami Mokbel’s leaked XI for the opening match:

I’m sure you think you can do better, so I want to see your squads in the comments!