"English Championship" redirects here. For the golf tournament, see English Championship (golf). For the defunct South African golf tournament which used its former sponsored name "Coca-Cola Championship", see Coca-Cola Charity Championship.
Football league
EFL Championship
Founded
1892;131years ago(1892) (as Football League Second Division)
1992;31years ago(1992) as (Football League First Division)
2004;19years ago(2004) (as Football League Championship)
Introduced for the 2004–05 season as the Football League Championship, the division is a rebrand of the former Football League First Division, which itself is a rebrand of the now-defunct Football League Second Division prior to the 1992 launch of the Premier League. The winning club of this division each season receives the EFL Championship trophy, which was the previous trophy awarded to the winners of the English top-flight prior to the launch of the Premier League. As with other divisions of professional English football, Welsh clubs can be part of this division, thus making it a cross-border league.
Each season, the two top-finishing teams in the Championship are automatically promoted to the Premier League. The teams that finish the season in 3rd to 6th place enter a playoff tournament, with the winner also gaining promotion to the Premier League. The three lowest-finishing teams in the Championship are relegated to League One.
The Championship is the wealthiest non-top-flight football division in the world, the ninth-richest division in Europe,[2] and the tenth best-attended division in world football (with the highest per-match attendance of any secondary league).[3] Its average match attendance for the 2018–19 season was 20,181.[4]
Barnsley have spent more seasons in this division than any other team, with Birmingham City currently holding the longest tenure in this division, only absent in the 2010–11 season. Barnsley became the first club to attain 1,000 wins in second-tier English league football with a 2–1 home victory over Coventry City on 3 January 2011 and also the first club to play 3,000 games in second-level English league football (W1028, D747, L1224).[5]
Sunderland won the league in the first season since re-branding, with Wigan Athletic finishing second to win promotion to the top flight of English football for the first time in their history. They had only been elected to the Football League in 1987; playing in the fourth tier as recently as 1994 before their promotion. West Ham United won the first Championship play-off final that season, following a 1–0 victory over Preston North End at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The 2004–05 season saw the division announce a total attendance (including postseason) of 9.8million, the fourth-highest total attendance for a European football division, behind the Premier League (12.88 million), Spain's La Liga (11.57 million) and Germany's Bundesliga (10.92 million).[6][7][8] Additionally, Millwall, competing in the inaugural Championship season, qualified for the UEFA Cup, only to lose in the first qualifying round. In the 2005–06 season, Reading broke the Football League points record for a season, finishing with 106 points, exceeding the record set by Sunderland in 1999.[9]
Sunderland won their second Championship title in the 2006–07 season, after being relegated from the top division the previous season. On 4 May 2007, Leeds United became the first side since the re-branding of the division to enter administration; they were deducted 10 points and were relegated as a result.[10][11] On 28 May 2007, Derby County won the first Championship play-off final at the new Wembley Stadium, beating West Bromwich Albion 1–0.[12] West Brom would go on to win the Championship in the following season.
On 30 September 2009, Coca-Cola announced they would end their sponsorship deal with the Football League, which began in 2004, at the end of the 2009–10 season.[14] On 16 March 2010, npower were announced as the new title sponsors of the Football League, and from the start of the 2010–11 Football League season until the end of the 2012–13 season, the Football League Championship was known as the Npower Championship.[15]Crystal Palace became the second Championship club to enter administration in 2010.[16]
After winning the 2011 League Cup Final, Birmingham City became the first Championship club to compete in the group stage of the UEFA Cup/Europa League, finishing third in the group, only one point behind Portuguese club Braga. Birmingham City eventually finished fourth in the Championship that season, and would lose to fifth-place Blackpool in the play-off. Wigan Athletic became the second club to participate in the Europa League group stage after winning the 2013 FA Cup, only to accumulate one win and lose their last three group matches.[17]
On 18 July 2013, UK bookmaker Sky Bet announced that they signed a five-year agreement to sponsor the league.[18]
On 24 May 2014, the Championship play-off final between Derby County and Queens Park Rangers saw the highest crowd for any Championship fixture – 87,348 witnessed a Bobby Zamora stoppage time winner for QPR to win promotion for the London club.[19]
For the 2016–17 season, the Football League was re-branded as the English Football League. The league had a cumulative attendance of more than 11 million – excluding play-off matches – with more than two million watching Newcastle United and Aston Villa home fixtures alone, both of whom had been relegated from the Premier League in the previous season. This was included in the highest crowds for the second to fourth tier in England since the 1958–59 season.[20] Newcastle won the title in 2016-17, while Aston Villa finished 13th, eventually returning to the Premier League in 2019.[21]
On 13 March 2020, Championship play was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a suspension lasting until 4 April. It was then extended to the end of April, with the league eventually restarting on 20 June. Leeds United were confirmed as champions on 17 July 2020, being promoted to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.[22]
Brentford, being in League Two in 2009 and gaining promotion to the Championship five years later, were promoted following a play-off victory against Swansea City on 29 May 2021, after losing the play-off to Fulham the previous year.[23] On 29 May 2022, Nottingham Forest, having been in the Championship for 14 consecutive seasons, ended their 23-year absence from the top flight by beating Huddersfield Town in the play-off final, after being last in the league as late as round 8 of the 2021–22 season.[24]
The EFL Championship took a four-week break in November and December 2022 for the winter World Cup.[25]
League structure
The league comprises 24 teams. Over the course of a season, which runs annually from August to the following May (in 2022, the year of a World Cup break in November and December, the league started in July), each team plays twice against the others in the league, once at 'home' and once 'away', resulting in each team competing in 46 games in total. Three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss. The teams are ranked in the league table by points gained, then goal difference, then goals scored, and then their head-to-head record for that season (including away goals record). If two or more teams finish the season equal in all these respects, then teams are separated by alphabetical order, unless a promotion, relegation, or play-off place (see below) is at stake, when the teams are separated by a play-off game, though this improbable situation has never arisen in all the years the rule has existed.[26]
At the end of the season, the top two teams and the winner of the Championship play-offs are promoted to the Premier League and the bottom three teams are relegated to Football League One. The Football League Championship play-offs is a knock-out competition for the teams finishing the season in third to sixth place with the winner being promoted to the Premier League. In the play-offs, the third-placed team plays against the sixth-placed team and the fourth-placed team plays against the fifth-placed team in two-legged semi-finals (home and away). The winners of each semi-final then compete in a single match at Wembley Stadium with the prize being promotion to the Premier League and the Championship play-off trophy.
1 When Norwich City gained promotion to the Premier League they were the first team to be relegated to, relegated from, promoted to and promoted from the Championship. 2 When Burnley were promoted with 93 points they set a record for the most points for a second-placed team; this was matched by Brighton & Hove Albion three years later.
The EFL Championship is the second most-watched second-tier domestic sports league in the World, behind the German 2. Bundesliga (20,372)[citation needed], with an average of 18,585 spectators per game in the 2019–20 season.[29] The EFL Championship was the seventh most-watched domestic football league in Europe in 2019-20, behind the Premier League, Bundesliga (1 and 2), La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1. In the 2016–17 season, the EFL Championship was the third most watched domestic league in Europe, behind the Premier League and the 1. Bundesliga.[30]
The highest average league attendance was in 2017–18 season, when 11.3 million fans attended Championship matches, at an average of 20,489 per game.[31] The lowest average league attendance came in the 2013–14 season, when 9.1 million spectators watched at an average of 16,605 per game.[32] The highest seasonal average for a club was 51,106 for Newcastle United in the 2016–17 season.[33]
Since the restructuring into the Championship in 2004, 56 teams have spent at least one season in the division, including 13 of the 20 teams in the 2022–23 Premier League. Cardiff City and Derby County have both spent the longest in the league with 17 seasons each. The 15-season spell for Ipswich Town between 2004 and 2019 is the longest consecutive spell of any team in the division. The team with the current longest tenure is Birmingham City, which has been a Championship team for eleven consecutive seasons. Norwich City has had six separate spells in the Championship; the most of any team. There have been 13 different winners of the EFL Championship, with five teams (Newcastle United, Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reading and Norwich City) having won it twice.
Norwich City has been promoted out of the Championship on four occasions, with five teams (Burnley, Fulham, Hull City, Watford, West Brom) having been promoted on three occasions. Rotherham United has been relegated from the Championship on four occasions, with three teams (Barnsley, Charlton Athletic and Wigan Athletic) having been relegated on three occasions. 14 teams have been both promoted out of and relegated from the Championship.
Key
Teams with this background and symbol in the "Club" column will be competing in the 2022–23 EFL Championship
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in EFL League One. Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in Catford during the 1923–24 season, and spent seven years at Selhurst Park and the Boleyn Ground between 1985 and 1992, due to financial issues, and then safety concerns raised by the local council. The club's traditional kit consists of red shirts, white shorts and red socks, and their most commonly used nickname is The Addicks. Charlton share local rivalries with fellow South London clubs Crystal Palace and Millwall.
The National League is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the "Alliance Premier League" from 1979 until 1986. Between 1986 and 2015, the league was known as the "Football Conference".
Lincoln City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professional in the English football league system. Notable former English Football League clubs that compete in the National League include: Scunthorpe United, Chesterfield, Oldham Athletic, Notts County, Wrexham and Torquay United. The National League is the lowest division in the English football pyramid organised on a nationwide basis. Formerly the Conference National, the league was renamed the National League from the 2015–16 season.
The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes or simply League One in England, is the second-highest division of the English Football League and the third tier overall in the English football league system.
Edward John Frank Howe is an English professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of Premier League club Newcastle United.
Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in 1908. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Their home strip is red shirts with white sleeves and white shorts, their home ground is Highbury Stadium in Fleetwood and the supporters of the club are affectionately known as the Cod Army, which is also used as a nickname for the club alongside The Fishermen, the club's traditional nickname. They contest a rivalry with nearby Blackpool known as the Fylde Coast derby.
Michael James Duff is a Belfast born football manager and former Burnley player who is currently manager of Barnsley. In a career spanning from 1995 to 2016, in which he made over 700 appearances, he played as a defender for Carterton Town, Cheltenham Town, Cirencester Town and Burnley. At international level, Duff earned 24 caps for Northern Ireland. From 2018 to 2022, he was the manager of EFL League One club Cheltenham Town, having previously managed the Burnley reserves for two years.
The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football league system, namely the EFL Championship, EFL League One and EFL League Two. As of 2022, the play-offs comprise two semi-finals, each conducted as a two-legged tie with games played at each side's home ground. The aggregate winners of the semi-finals progress to the final which is contested at Wembley Stadium, where the victorious side is promoted to the league above, and the runners-up remain in the same division. In the event of drawn ties or finals, extra time followed by a penalty shoot-out are employed as necessary.
Stephen Mark Davis is an English former footballer who played as a defender. He had three spells with Burnley, and has subsequently coached for them. He was the first team coach for EFL Championship side Bolton Wanderers but was sacked along with Owen Coyle on 9 October.
Sean Mark Dyche is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Everton.
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split from it to form the Premier League.
Benjamin James Gibson is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for EFL Championship club Norwich City.
The 2015–16 Football League Championship was the twelfth season of the Football League Championship under its current title and it was the twenty-fourth season under its current league structure. The season started on 7 August 2015, and concluded on 7 May 2016. The fixtures were announced on 17 June 2015.
William James Norris is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL League One side Peterborough United on loan from EFL Championship side Burnley.
Daniel Ebenezer Kwasi Agyei is an English footballer who plays as a forward for EFL League Two club Crewe Alexandra.
Nathan Michael Collins is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Republic of Ireland national team.
↑ "Barnsley 2–1 Brighton". BBC Sport. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2017. Barnsley became the first team to play 3,000 games in second level league football.
↑ "Countdown underway to new season". BBC Sport News. 6 August 2005. Retrieved 2 May 2010. Attendances rose by 10% to 9.8 million in 2004/05; it is the fourth best attended division in Europe; 9 clubs had something to play for on the final day of the last campaign (2004–05).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
England (22 teams)
Wales (2 teams)
