Two sides, Newcastle and Middlesbrough, have a bye into round 2 of the Carling Cup.
The FA Cup starts on the weekend on Saturday January 2nd, 2010.
The Christmas fixtures this year are not too demanding. Matches to be played on Saturday December 19th, Saturday December 26th and Monday December 28th. Then as mentioned above the FA Cup on Jan 2nd.
The season ends on May 2nd. The Championship play off final will be on May 22nd. A week before the League 1 and League 2 play off finals. This is because 2010 is a World Cup year and Championship players maybe involved in the finals in South Africa.