"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;132years ago(1892) (as Football League Second Division)
1992;32years ago(1992) as (Football League First Division)
2004;20years 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 12th best-attended division in world football (with the second highest per-match attendance of any secondary league - after the German 2nd Bundesliga).[3] Its average match attendance for the 2022–23 season was 18,787.[4]
Cardiff City have spent more seasons in this division than any other team, and Birmingham City currently hold the longest tenure in this division having last been 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. They also became the first club to play 3,000 games in second-level English league football following another 2–1 home victory, this time against Brighton & Hove Albion on 12 March 2013 (W1028, D747, L1224).[5]
Sunderland won the league in the first season since rebranding, 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 1978 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 of 105 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 had 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 rebranded 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, having been 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 unique four-week break in November and December 2022 to allow for players to join their national teams at the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar.[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 EFL 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 (22,224), with an average of 18,787 spectators per game in the 2022–23 season. The Championship is the fifth most watched league in Europe.[29]
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.[30] 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.[31] The highest seasonal average for a club was 51,106 for Newcastle United in the 2016–17 season.[32]
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 2023–24 Premier League. Cardiff City have spent the longest in the league with 18 seasons. 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 will have their thirteenth consecutive season as a Championship team in the 2023-24 season. 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 six teams (Burnley, Newcastle United, Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Reading and Norwich City) having won it twice.
Burnley and Norwich City have been promoted out of the Championship on four occasions, with five teams (Fulham, Hull City, Sheffield United, Watford, West Brom) having been promoted on three occasions. Rotherham United and Wigan Athletic have been relegated from the Championship on four occasions, with two teams (Barnsley and Charlton 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 2023–24 EFL Championship
Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Reading Football Club is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. They compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. They play their home matches at the Madejski Stadium.
Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system.
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".
Barnsley Football Club is a professional football club in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club moved its home ground in 2005 to the Pirelli Stadium from Eton Park. The club's nickname, The Brewers, evokes the brewing heritage of Burton upon Trent.
The National League is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It’s the highest league that semi-professional teams in the English football league system play. Notable former English Football League clubs that compete in the National League include: Chesterfield, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, York City, Hartlepool United and Southend 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 Two, simply known as League Two in England and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is the third and lowest division of the English Football League (EFL) and fourth-highest tier overall in the English football league system.
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.
The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since opening in 1995. Its current capacity is 34,742, all seated, although provisional planning permission is in place to expand to 42,000 if required.
The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by 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.
The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. As of 2022, the play-offs comprise two semi-finals, where the team finishing third plays the team finishing sixth, and the team finishing fourth plays the team finishing fifth, each conducted as a two-legged tie. The winners of the semi-finals progress to the final which is contested at Wembley Stadium. The Championship play-off final is considered the most valuable single football match in the world as a result of the increase in revenue to the winning club from sponsorship and media agreements.
The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. As of 2022, the play-offs comprise two semi-finals, where the team finishing third plays the team finishing sixth, and the team finishing fourth plays the team finishing fifth, each conducted as a two-legged tie. The winners of the semi-finals progress to the final which is contested at Wembley Stadium.
The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual English Football League play-offs. As of 2022, the play-offs comprise two semi-finals, where the team finishing fourth plays the team finishing seventh, and the team finishing fifth plays the team finishing sixth, each conducted as a two-legged tie. The winners of the semi-finals progress to the final which is contested at Wembley Stadium.
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and 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. The Football League was rebranded as the "English Football League" (EFL) from the 2016–17 season.
↑ "Barnsley 2–1 Brighton". BBC Sport. 12 March 2013. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. 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. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. 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).
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