| Countries | England |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004–present 1992–2004 (as Division One) 1892–1992 (as Division Two) |
| Number of teams | 24 |
| Levels on pyramid | 2 |
| Promotion to | Premier League |
| Relegation to | League One |
| Domestic cup(s) | FA Cup League Cup |
| Current champions | Queens Park Rangers (2010–11) |
| Most championships | Sunderland (2 titles) |
| TV partners | Sky Sports BBC |
| Website | Official site |
| 2011–12 Football League Championship | |
The Football League Championship (often referred to as The Championship for short, or the Npower Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League. The Championship primary motto is Real football, real fans.
The Football League Championship was introduced for the 2004–05 season, having been previously known as the Football League First Division. According to Deloitte, in the 2004–05 season it was the wealthiest non-top flight football division in the world, and the sixth richest division in Europe.[1]
The winners of the Football League Championship receive the Football League Championship trophy which is the same trophy as the old First Division (now the Premier League) Champions were handed prior to the Premier League's inception in the 1992/93 season.
Contents |
In 2004–05, the Football League Championship announced a total attendance (including postseason) of 9.8 million, which it said was the fourth highest total attendance for a European football division, behind the FA Premier League (12.88m), Spain's Primera división (11.57m) and Germany's Bundesliga (10.92m), but beating Italy's Serie A (9.77m) and France's Ligue 1 (8.17m).[2][3][4] The total figures were aided somewhat by the presence of 24 clubs, compared to 20 clubs in both Serie A and Ligue 1, and 18 in the Bundesliga. A major factor to the competition's success comes from television revenue.
On 30 September 2009 Coca Cola announced they would end their sponsorship deal with the Football League at the end of the 2009–10 season.[5] 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, the Football League Championship is known as the Npower Championship.[6]
The league comprises 24 teams. Over the course of a season, which runs annually from August to the following May, 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 and then goals scored. In the event that two or more teams finish the season equal in all these respects, 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.[7]
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 with the prize being promotion to the Premier League and the Championship play-off trophy.
The three promoted teams are replaced in the division for the next season by the teams finishing in the bottom three in the Premier League and the relegated teams are replaced by the two teams finishing at the top of League One and the winner of the League One play-off final.
From 2009–2012 Sky Sports have the rights to broadcast 65 live matches, live coverage of both legs of both play off semi finals and the play off final live.[8] The BBC has the rights to show 10 first choice live games for the regular season as well as the rights to show a highlight show. The deal is on a three year contract and is worth £264m that will mostly be paid by Sky.[9] Sky Sports will then take exclusive live rights to the Football League from 2013, having signed a three-year deal worth £195m, representing a 26% reduction in revenue from the previous joint deal between Sky and BBC.[10] The new deal will include 75 live league games, all the play-off matches, 15 League Cup ties (including both semi-finals and the final) and selected Johnstone's Paint Trophy matches. Sky will also have highlights packages, with the free-to-air rights yet to be decided.
Local radio stations with a local football team in The Championship usually offer audio coverage of every live game. BBC Sport holds exclusive national rights to broadcast Championship matches live to the whole of the United Kingdom; most matches are broadcast on local BBC radio stations for the area of their respective teams while some headline matches are broadcast on national stations, either 5 Live or 5 Live Sports Extra under their 5 Live Sport banner. Most matches broadcast on BBC radio are also broadcast online to UK users on the BBC website.
talkSPORT also has rights to broadcast each of the Football League Play Off Finals.
The following table provides information on the 24 clubs currently in the Football League Championship
Table codes (click individual codes to view season tables):
C = Champions, R-up = League runner-up, p.w. = Play-off Winner, R = Relegated from League
| Club names | Finishing position | Member since
season |
Consecutive
seasons in league |
Total seasons
in league* |
Spells
in league* |
Relegated
to league* |
Promoted
from League* |
Relegated
from league* |
Promoted
to League* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnsley | 17th | 2006–07 | 6 | 6/8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (p.w) |
| Birmingham City | 18th in Premier League | 2011–12 | 1 | 3/8 | 3 | 3(R) | 2(R-up) | 0 | 0 |
| Blackpool | 19th in Premier League | 2011–12 | 1 | 4/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1(p.w.) | 0 | 1(p.w.) |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 1st in League One | 2011–12 | 1 | 2/8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1(R) | 1(C) |
| Bristol City | 15th | 2007–08 | 5 | 5/8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (R-up) |
| Burnley | 8th | 2010–11 | 2 | 7/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Cardiff City | 4th | 2003–04 | 9 | 8/8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Coventry City | 18th | 2001–02 | 11 | 8/8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 20th | 2005–06 | 7 | 7/8 | 1 | 1(R) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Derby County | 19th | 2008–09 | 4 | 7/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1 (p.w) | 0 | 0 |
| Doncaster Rovers | 21st | 2008–09 | 4 | 4/8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (p.w) |
| Hull City | 11th | 2010–11 | 2 | 5/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1 | 0 | 1(R-up) |
| Ipswich Town | 13th | 2002–03 | 10 | 8/8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leeds United | 7th | 2010–11 | 2 | 5/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 0 | 1(R) | 1 (R-up) |
| Leicester City | 10th | 2009–10 | 3 | 7/8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1(R) | 1 (C) |
| Middlesbrough | 12th | 2009–10 | 3 | 3/8 | 1 | 1(R) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Millwall | 9th | 2010–11 | 2 | 5/8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1(R) | 1 (p.w) |
| Nottingham Forest | 6th | 2008–09 | 4 | 5/8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1(R) | 1 (R-up) |
| Peterborough United | League 1 Playoffs' champion | 2011–12 | 1 | 2/8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1(R) | 2(p.w.) |
| Portsmouth | 16th | 2010–11 | 2 | 2/8 | 1 | 1(R) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reading | 5th | 2008–09 | 4 | 6/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1 (C) | 0 | 0 |
| Southampton | 2nd in League One | 2011–12 | 1 | 5/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 0 | 1(R) | 1(R-up) |
| Watford | 14th | 2007–08 | 5 | 7/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1 (p.w) | 0 | 0 |
| West Ham United | 20th in Premier League | 2011–12 | 1 | 2/8 | 2 | 1(R) | 1(p.w.) | 0 | 0 |
Notes
| Season | League champions | points | Runner-up | points | Promoted play-off winner | Play-off runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–05 | Sunderland | 94 | Wigan Athletic | 87 | West Ham United | Preston North End |
| 2005–06 | Reading | 106 | Sheffield United | 90 | Watford | Leeds United |
| 2006–07 | Sunderland | 88 | Birmingham City | 86 | Derby County | West Bromwich Albion |
| 2007–08 | West Bromwich Albion | 81 | Stoke City | 79 | Hull City | Bristol City |
| 2008–09 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 90 | Birmingham City | 83 | Burnley | Sheffield United |
| 2009–10 | Newcastle United | 102 | West Bromwich Albion | 91 | Blackpool | Cardiff City |
| 2010–11 | Queens Park Rangers | 88 | Norwich City1 | 84 | Swansea City | Reading |
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.
For past winners at this level before 2004, see List of winners of English Football League Championship and predecessors
| Season | Top scorer | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–05 | Nathan Ellington | Wigan Athletic | 24 |
| 2005–06 | Marlon King | Watford | 21 |
| 2006–07 | Jamie Cureton | Colchester United | 23 |
| 2007–08 | Sylvan Ebanks-Blake | Plymouth Argyle/Wolverhampton Wanderers | 23 |
| 2008–09 | Sylvan Ebanks-Blake | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 25 |
| 2009–10 | Peter Whittingham | Cardiff City | 22 |
| 2010–11 | Danny Graham | Watford | 24 |
| Team | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Leeds United | Elland Road | 39,460 |
| West Ham United | The Boleyn Ground | 35,303 |
| Middlesbrough | Riverside Stadium | 34,988 |
| Derby County | Pride Park Stadium | 33,597 |
| Southampton | St Mary's Stadium | 32,689 |
| Coventry City | Ricoh Arena | 32,609 |
| Leicester City | The King Power Stadium | 32,262 |
| Nottingham Forest | City Ground | 30,576 |
| Ipswich Town | Portman Road | 30,311 |
| Birmingham City | St Andrew's Stadium | 30,079 |
| Cardiff City | Cardiff City Stadium | 26,828 |
| Crystal Palace | Selhurst Park | 26,309 |
| Hull City | KC Stadium | 25,404 |
| Reading | Madejski Stadium | 24,161 |
| Barnsley | Oakwell | 23,009 |
| Burnley | Turf Moor | 22,546 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | AMEX Stadium | 22,374 |
| Bristol City | Ashton Gate | 21,497 |
| Portsmouth | Fratton Park | 21,100 |
| Millwall | The Den | 20,146 |
| Watford | Vicarage Road | 16,900 |
| Blackpool | Bloomfield Road | 16,116 |
| Peterborough United | London Road Stadium | 15,460* |
| Doncaster Rovers | Keepmoat Stadium | 15,231 |
* ground contains some terracing.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Football League First Division |
Second tier of English football 2004 – present |
Current league |