That is in comparison to six clubs receiving parachutes in 2024/25 and six again in 2023/24.
There were five a season before that but as many as eight in 2019/20 – with the ninth eligible, Sunderland, picking up their cheque for that season in League One.
There have never been as few as three since the parachute model took on its current form a decade ago – and having so few could save the Premier League about £130m in payments it won’t have to make. That money will be shared between the 20 top flight clubs, getting about £6.5m each.
The system, coupled with challenging Financial Fair Play rules, present a major problem for English football to fix to stop the Premier League becoming an increasingly closed shop.
Fourteen of the 20 clubs who have been promoted since Stoke came back into the Championship have gone up while in receipt of parachute money – leaving the Potters still kicking themselves for Gary Rowett’s disastrous summer of 2018 when it was their time in the black.
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But it does set up a particularly intriguing battle in the Championship for 2025/26, with the spending power across up to 21 clubs being much more equal. Fifteen clubs are within £7m of an average £22.41m income, according to their latest accounts.