Tickets at some Championship clubs have been described as “ridiculously expensive” after a Guardian survey found adult prices this season will regularly surpass £35, with Sheffield Wednesday charging £52 for certain games.

According to the study, Wednesday’s category A* matches in the south stand at Hillsborough are the most expensive seats available, excluding premium hospitality sections across the league. Eighteen of the 24 clubs in the division have priced their dearest tickets at £35 or more. Five of those clubs – Brighton, Fulham, Ipswich, Leeds and Wednesday – sell their most expensive tickets at £40 or more.

A number of clubs offer promotions and deals throughout the season. However, the cheapest standard adult ticket available at Brighton, MK Dons and Reading is £25. The best available price is at Derby, who offer £10 admissions for a small number of matches per season, while fans at Birmingham, Bolton, Blackburn, Cardiff and Charlton can buy tickets for less than £20 for some games.

The most expensive season ticket is at Fulham, who charge £839 in one stand, while Ipswich’s top price is £829, Sheffield Wednesday’s £760, QPR’s £719 and Brighton’s £715. The cheapest season ticket available at Hull City is £508, followed by £465 at Brighton and £411 at Ipswich. The cheapest season ticket in the Championship was Charlton’s early price of £175, while seven other clubs had best available options at £300 or under, including Birmingham, Blackburn, Bristol City, Fulham, Huddersfield, Preston and Wolves.

It puts the cost of following a Championship club under scrutiny, with certain supporters staging protests similar to those held against ticket prices in the Premier League. The Championship is regarded as too costly by many, with certain fans arguing that tickets should cost no more than £20-25.

The Football League said fans who purchased their club’s cheapest season ticket for the 2014-15 campaign paid an average of £15 per match but that those buying tickets for individual games did not benefit from such discounts.

The Football Supporters’ Federation, which is organising a Twenty is Plenty weekend of action for away fans in October, said: “This research proves what many fans have been telling us for years – there are some good offers available in the Championship but many ridiculously expensive tickets too. High prices aren’t just a Premier League problem. We often speak to foreign fans and journalists who are shocked that £40 tickets are commonplace in the second tier of English football. To the best of our knowledge it doesn’t happen anywhere else. Away supporters in particular are hit in the pocket as they receive no season-ticket discounts while local promotions are rarely offered to them either.

“More clubs should follow the example of Coventry City, who have promised to charge away fans visiting the Ricoh Arena no more than £20. If a League One club can do that, why not the Championship? All fans should back our Twenty’s Plenty for Away Tickets protests on 3-4 October.”

The FSF campaign is focused on reducing the prices away fans are charged. A number of Bristol City supporters boycotted their first match of the season, at Sheffield Wednesday, because of the £39 tickets in the away end and, in the Championship, supporters of clubs such as Leeds and Nottingham Forest are often charged top-category prices for away matches.

Wednesday were bought out by a Thai company headed by the businessman Dejphon Chansiri in January. After announcing the new ticket-pricing plan for the 2015-16 season – where a match grading system from G-A* is in place, with category C matches costing £43 in the south stand – Chansiri released a statement on the club’s website in response to criticism. A section said: “In the bigger picture if we are to achieve our ultimate aim of promotion, we must embark on this journey together. I will lead that journey as your chairman but I need as much help as possible along the way … as our costs increase, so too must our revenues across the business.”

– A number of clubs offer promotions throughout the season, including £10 tickets at Huddersfield; at Wolves you can buy five midweek matches for £100. – Derby operate a 'demand' policy where ticket prices change subject to their popularity. – Some of the top-priced season tickets are for premium seats, with clubs offering different perks for these areas, including Leeds United. Not included are Ipswich's premium tickets of up to £60 and season tickets ranging from £916-£1202. – Brighton's prices include local travel to and from matches – A number of clubs offer promotions throughout the season, including £10 tickets at Huddersfield; at Wolves you can buy five midweek matches for £100.

– Derby operate a ‘demand’ policy where ticket prices change subject to their popularity.

– Some of the top-priced season tickets are for premium seats, with clubs offering different perks for these areas, including Leeds United. Not included are Ipswich’s premium tickets of up to £60 and season tickets ranging from £916-£1202.

– Brighton’s prices include local travel to and from matches.

The suggestion was that fans of Sheffield Wednesday must think of promotion and incoming transfers when considering the increase in prices.

However, Stuart Rogers, chairman of the Bristol City Supporters’ Club and Trust, states there is little thought for away fans. “I think £52 is too much,” he said. “The justification given by the new owner of Sheffield Wednesday was that they had to charge those prices to fund their promotion push. As a Bristol City supporter, why would I want to do that?

“I think there is something about the level you are watching. There are certain grounds where £30 is probably value, because you are on the halfway line seeing a standard of football which on its day can be very entertaining. In some grounds the facilities support that price. But if you’re an away fan you usually don’t get that, you often get the worst view.” Last season many Wigan Athletic fans boycotted their fixture at Leeds on Boxing Day, when prices were £36.

Billy Grant, who co-runs the Brentford fanzine Beesotted and is an FSF council member, believes the most important price is the cheapest one available at each club, saying: “The key at Brentford is the fact that most non-season-ticket-holding home fans and away fans can get in for around £25 if they wanted to pay that price, the cheapest price on offer.

“The difference between our scenario and say Leeds, Norwich, Ipswich and Middlesbrough last season was that at those grounds, as away fans, we were charged £34, £35, £32.50 and £31 respectively. We weren’t offered seats in the £20-£30 region as some home fans were. That stinks and shows how some football clubs have very little regard for the travelling support.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Elland Road, home of Leeds United, but also to ticket prices this season up to £42. Photograph: Dave Howarth/PA

On Wednesday’s top bracket £52 prices, which have yet to be used this season, Grant added: “It’s an absolute disgrace. This is where football clubs get it wrong. This idea that some clubs have of charging their fans very reasonable season ticket prices but then really hammering the casual supporter and away fan with higher walk-up prices is wrong.”

A Football League spokesman said: “Clubs offer a variety of ticket prices with the best value usually being offered to those home fans that commit to purchasing a season ticket. For example, fans buying their club’s lowest-priced season ticket paid an average of £15 per match to watch Championship football last season.

“As a result, season-ticket holders now make up an ever greater proportion of the supporter base and account for 10 million of the 16 million-plus admissions to Football League matches each season.

“A consequence of providing greater value at one end of the spectrum is that other fans, such as those paying on the day for a single match, do not benefit from any discount. While it is for individual clubs to decide their ticket pricing strategy based on their detailed knowledge of their supporters, league regulations ensure away fans pay no more than home fans for a similar standard of accommodation.”

The picture is in stark contrast to other European second divisions. In Germany, safe-standing sections within stadiums mean prices are much cheaper, with the vast majority of second-tier (2. Bundesliga) clubs offering standing season tickets well below €200 (£146).

Marc Quambusch, a Borussia Dortmund fan and member of Football Supporters Europe, said: “FC St Pauli’s tickets cost a minimum of €10 [£7.30] and a maximum of €43. At the moment we are organising a boycott against Hoffenheim [in the Bundesliga] because against Borussia Dortmund they charge a minimum of €55 for the cheapest seat, €18 for standing. No one would accept €55 for a 2. Bundesliga match.

“Borussia charges €16 for a ticket in the ‘yellow wall’ and €33.50 for the cheapest seat. There is an extra fee for top matches but away supporters do not pay this in the standing section. I love English football but it is killing itself.”