The English Football League Championship is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the English football league system, sitting below the Premier League and contested by 24 professional clubs from England and Wales.
In its present form, the Championship traces its legacy to the original Football League Second Division, which became the First Division in 1992 when the top flight of English football was reorganised as the Premier League. The current competition was intended for the 2004–05 season as the Football League Championship as a rebrand of the First Division. 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. Up until the 2025/26 season the teams that finished the season in third to sixth place entered a play-off tournament, with the winner gaining promotion to the Premier League. From the 2026/27 season the playoffs also include the teams finishing in seventh and eighth place. 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, and the 12th best-attended division in world football (with the second highest per-match attendance of any secondary league – after the German 2. Bundesliga). Its average match attendance for the 2022–23 season was 18,787.
Cardiff City have spent more seasons in this division than any other team, and Bristol City, Preston North End and Queens Park Rangers currently hold the longest tenure in this division, having last been absent in the 2014–15 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. The current champions of the league are Coventry City.
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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.
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.
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.
Clubs
Seasons in English second tier
There are 106 teams that have taken part in 123 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 2026–27 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.
Seasons in EFL Championship
There are 59 teams that have taken part in 23 English second tier seasons that were played from the 2004–05 season until the 2026–27 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.
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
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 2026–27 Premier League. Cardiff City, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers have spent the longest in the league with 20 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 each have their twelfth consecutive season as a Championship team in the 2026–27 season. Burnley and Norwich City have both 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, Hull City and Norwich City have been promoted out of the Championship on four occasions, with four teams (Fulham, 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 three teams (Barnsley, Charlton Athletic and Sheffield Wednesday) having been relegated on three occasions. Fourteen 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 2026–27 EFL Championship
‡ Team will be competing in the 2026–27 Premier League
The club competed in the EFL Championship during that season (the number is the club's final league position)
Sponsorships
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. In 2013, UK bookmaker Sky Bet signed a five-year agreement to sponsor the league, and have remained the sponsor since then.