EFL Championship

History

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 9.8 million, 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). Additionally, Millwall, competing in the inaugural Championship season, qualified for the UEFA Cup, only to lose in the first 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 1998–99.

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. On 28 May 2007, Derby County won the first Championship play-off final at the new Wembley Stadium, beating West Bromwich Albion 1–0. West Brom would go on to win the Championship in the following season.

Burnley, who finished fifth in 2009, defeated Sheffield United to earn their first season in the newly branded Premier League, last being in the Football League First Division in 1976.

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. 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. Crystal Palace became the second Championship club to enter administration in 2010.

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.

On 18 July 2013, UK bookmaker Sky Bet announced that they had signed a five-year agreement to sponsor the league.

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.

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. Newcastle won the title in 2016–17, while Aston Villa finished 13th, eventually returning to the Premier League in 2019.

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.

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. 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.

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.

League structure

Current members

Charlton Athletic

Millwall

Queens Park Rangers

Seasons in English second tier

There are 106 teams that have taken part in 122 English second tier seasons (including the Football League Second Division, the Football League First Division, and the EFL Championship) that were played from the 1892–93 season until the 2025–26 season. The teams in bold compete in the EFL Championship currently, while the teams in italics have never competed in the EFL Championship. The year in parentheses represents the most recent year of participation at this level.

• 78 seasons: Barnsley (2022)
• 65 seasons: Hull City (2026)
• 64 seasons: Leicester City (2026)
• 61 seasons: Birmingham City (2026)
• 58 seasons: Nottingham Forest (2022), Bristol City (2026)
• 56 seasons: Fulham (2022), Derby County (2026)
• 53 seasons: Middlesbrough (2026), Preston North End (2026)
• 52 seasons: Grimsby Town (2003), Blackpool (2023), Cardiff City (2025)
• 50 seasons: Wolverhampton Wanderers (2018)
• 49 seasons: Blackburn Rovers (2026), Millwall (2026), Stoke City (2026)
• 48 seasons: Burnley (2025), Sheffield United (2026)
• 47 seasons: Charlton Athletic (2026)
• 46 seasons: Sheffield Wednesday (2026)
• 45 seasons: Swansea City (2026)
• 44 seasons: West Bromwich Albion (2026)
• 43 seasons: Huddersfield Town (2024), Norwich City (2026)
• 42 seasons: Leeds United (2025), Plymouth Argyle (2025), Portsmouth (2026)
• 41 seasons: Leyton Orient (1982), Port Vale (2000), Southampton (2026)
• 39 seasons: Bury (1999), Luton Town (2025), Ipswich Town (2026)
• 37 seasons: Notts County (1995), Crystal Palace (2013), Queens Park Rangers (2026)
• 36 seasons: Oldham Athletic (1997)
• 35 seasons: Coventry City (2026)
• 34 seasons: Lincoln City (1961), Bolton Wanderers (2019), Watford (2026)
• 33 seasons: Sunderland (2025)
• 32 seasons: West Ham United (2012)
• 30 seasons: Rotherham United (2024)
• 29 seasons: Bradford City (2004), Reading (2023)
• 28 seasons: Newcastle United (2017)
• 26 seasons: Stockport County (2002)
• 25 seasons: Manchester City (2002)
• 24 seasons: Brighton & Hove Albion (2017)
• 22 seasons: Bradford (Park Avenue) (1950), Manchester United (1975)
• 20 seasons: Chesterfield (1951), Oxford United (2026)
• 19 seasons: Chelsea (1989), Bristol Rovers (1993), Doncaster Rovers (2014)
• 18 seasons: Swindon Town (2000)
• 17 seasons: Brentford (2021)
• 16 seasons: Gainsborough Trinity (1912), Glossop North End (1915), Tottenham Hotspur (1978)
• 15 seasons: Carlisle United (1986), Walsall (2004)
• 13 seasons: Arsenal (1915), Aston Villa (2019)
• 12 seasons: Crewe Alexandra (2006)
• 11 seasons: Liverpool (1962), Tranmere Rovers (2001)
• 10 seasons: Leeds City (1915), Shrewsbury Town (1989)
• 9 seasons: Burton Swifts (1901), Gateshead (1928), Scunthorpe United (2011)
• 8 seasons: Cambridge United (1993), Wigan Athletic (2023)
• 7 seasons: Southend United (2007), Bournemouth (2022)
• 6 seasons: Darwen (1899), Burton United (1907), Wimbledon (2004), Peterborough United (2022)
• 5 seasons: Loughborough (1900), Gillingham (2005), Wrexham (2026)
• 4 seasons: Rotherham County (1923), Everton (1954)
• 3 seasons: Rotherham Town (1896), Burton Wanderers (1897), New Brighton Tower (1901), Northampton Town (1967)
• 2 seasons: Northwich Victoria (1894), Darlington (1927), York City (1976), Colchester United (2008), Burton Albion (2018)
• 1 season: Bootle (1893), Middlesbrough Ironopolis (1894), Nelson (1924), Newport County (1947), Hereford United (1977), Mansfield Town (1978), Yeovil Town (2014), Milton Keynes Dons (2016), Wycombe Wanderers (2021)

Seasons in EFL Championship

There are 58 teams that have taken part in 22 English second tier seasons that were played from the 2004–05 season until the 2025–26 season. The teams in bold compete in the EFL Championship currently. The year in parentheses represents the most recent year of participation at this level.

• 19 seasons: Cardiff City (2025), Derby County (2026), Queens Park Rangers (2026)
• 18 seasons: Preston North End (2026)
• 17 seasons: Bristol City (2026), Ipswich Town (2026), Sheffield Wednesday (2026)
• 16 seasons: Reading (2023), Birmingham City (2026), Middlesbrough (2026), Millwall (2026)
• 15 seasons: Nottingham Forest (2022), Leeds United (2025), Hull City (2026), Watford (2026)
• 14 seasons: Coventry City (2026), Norwich City (2026)
• 13 seasons: Barnsley (2022), Blackburn Rovers (2026)
• 12 seasons: Burnley (2025), Sheffield United (2026), Stoke City (2026)
• 11 seasons: Leicester City (2026), Swansea City (2026)
• 10 seasons: Wolverhampton Wanderers (2018), Huddersfield Town (2024), West Bromwich Albion (2026)
• 9 seasons: Blackpool (2023)
• 8 seasons: Crystal Palace (2013), Brighton & Hove Albion (2017), Rotherham United (2024), Plymouth Argyle (2025), Charlton Athletic (2026)
• 7 seasons: Brentford (2021), Wigan Athletic (2023), Luton Town (2025), Southampton (2026)
• 6 seasons: Bolton Wanderers (2019), Fulham (2022), Sunderland (2025)
• 5 seasons: Doncaster Rovers (2014)
• 4 seasons: Bournemouth (2022), Peterborough United (2022), Portsmouth (2026)
• 3 seasons: Scunthorpe United (2011), Aston Villa (2019)
• 2 seasons: Crewe Alexandra (2006), Colchester United (2008), West Ham United (2012), Newcastle United (2017), Burton Albion (2018), Oxford United (2026)
• 1 season: Gillingham (2005), Southend United (2007), Yeovil Town (2014), Milton Keynes Dons (2016), Wycombe Wanderers (2021), Wrexham (2026)

Results

League champions, runners-up and play-off finalists

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 100 points they set a record for the most points for a second-placed team; beating the previous record of 96 points by Ipswich Town.

For past winners at this level before 2004, see List of winners of English Football League Championship and predecessors

Relegated teams (from Championship to League One)

Relegated teams (from Premier League to Championship)

Promoted teams (from League One to Championship)

Top scorers

Attendances

The EFL Championship is the second most-watched second-tier domestic sports league in the World, behind the German 2. Bundesliga (29,081), with an average of 23,048 spectators per game in the 2023–24 season. The Championship is the fifth most watched league in Europe.

The highest average league attendance was in 2023–24 season, when 12.7 million fans attended Championship matches, at an average of 23,048 per game. 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. The highest seasonal average for a club was 51,106 for Newcastle United in the 2016–17 season.

Historic performance

Since the restructuring into the Championship in 2004, 57 teams have spent at least one season in the division, including 13 of the 20 teams in the 2025–26 Premier League. Cardiff City have spent the longest in the league with 19 seasons. The 15-season spell for Ipswich Town between 2004 and 2019 is the longest consecutive spell of any team in the division. The teams with the current longest tenure are Bristol City, Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers, who will each have their eleventh consecutive season as a Championship team in the 2025–26 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 eight teams (Burnley, Leeds United, Leicester City, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Reading, Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers) 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 have been relegated from the Championship the most times on five occasions, with Wigan Athletic having been relegated the second-most times on four occasions and 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 2025–26 EFL Championship
• Team will be competing in the 2025–26 Premier League
• The club competed in the EFL Championship during that season (the number is the club's final league position)

References

References

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